The Undead Schoolgirl : Dead Pulse
by Wickerbot
Summary: After being rejected by All-Might, Izuku takes Katsukis advice and jumps off a building. Only to find that they aren't very good at staying dead. With a strange quirk keeping Izuku from staying dead and forcibly stitching their body back together when it's cut or torn apart, maybe they can become a hero! FemIzuku, UndeadIzuku, Pairing TBA. M cause zombies are messy when blown up.
1. One Small Step

_Prologue, Part 1: One Small Step..._

* * *

"You know if you really want to be a hero that badly there might be another way, just pray you'll be born with a quirk in the next life and take a swan dive off the roof of the building!"

"So no I honestly don't think you can become a hero without a quirk."

Izuku stood at the railing, red shoes tied together as an awkward bola. With a quick throw, the shoes flew from her hand and were caught on a powerline. Next, Izuku slips on a pair of old shoes.

She doesn't say anything, instead just going over to the edge and looking down. Something had exploded and now everyone was either going towards it or away from it, the rooftop she was on overlooked the space in-between, a street no-one had stayed on.

She leaned forward and fell, and everything went dark.

* * *

Katsuki couldn't breathe, no matter what he did with his quirk he wasn't making progress getting out of slime trying to force its way into his body. He kept trying though, heroes win, therefore he would win because he was going to be a hero, it was that simple.

He lets off a particularly large explosion, well over his usual limit in desperation. The blast shot through a wall and ruined the support of the rest of the building. He heard screams as bricks entered his view, then a bright light as the gas lines leading to the building were exposed to fire.

The blast forced the slime off him and launched him to the wall, his head slammed into the bricks, and everything went dark.

* * *

Toshinori's eyes widened as the alley exploded, then widened even further as he realized the agonizing pain in his left side. He looked down as the people around him screamed and backed away from him, rebar, right in his old wound.

He dropped to his knees as blood pooled in his mouth, spilling through his teeth and dripping down his chin. He opened his mouth and let the blood out before he started to drown in it. He pulled out his phone and hit the button to speed dial Recovery Girl.

He hoped she'd make it in time as he fell to his side, and everything went dark.

* * *

Izuku opened her eyes and saw the sky, as well as the buildings around her, she didn't feel anything though. At first, she wondered if she messed up if she was really so useless as to screw up committing suicide despite jumping from a five-story building.

She forced herself up and noticed the sheer amount of blood around her, why wasn't she dead. Her hands seemed pale, and she felt cold. She grabbed her wrist and didn't feel her pulse. Her hand shot to her chest, no heartbeat.

She died, but she came back... she got up and ran over to a window. She was pale, her face had red, fleshy looking stitches where it must have split open, she looked over her arms and legs, finding more stitches where she figured bone had broken and ripped through her skin.

A scream ripped through her throat and past her lips, after all the pain, all the insults, she finally found her quirk.

* * *

Katsuki woke up in the remains of the alley, just in time for people to pull him from the debris of his explosion. He shook his head and looked around, not sure what had happened, who set off the second explosion. His eyes widened as he saw the damage.

There were bodies everywhere, the various heroes tried to find survivors, to help them stay awake until emergency heroes and ambulances could arrive. People were burnt, impaled, missing parts or chunks of flesh or a mix of all three and worse. The heroes who pulled him from the rubble dragged him to the rest of the survivors and headed back into the alley to find others.

He wasn't stupid, his eyes found where he'd been trapped, where his blast would have gone, remembered the fires and how there had been screaming before the blast. How one building was more destroyed than the rest and right in the path of where his explosion would have gone.

It took him a moment to realize it was him screaming, the cool feeling on his cheeks was his tears, as he realized the consequences of his quirk.

* * *

Toshinori gasped as he woke up, Recovery Girl kneeling over him, he was honestly surprised. He sat up with her assistance and nearly passed out again. The devastation around him, all because he couldn't save people anymore. He'd failed.

He heard the boy scream as he realized what his quirk had done, but it was just as much his own fault. He had stood there wallowing in his own weakness rather than risking it all to save lives. He thought about his power, how it had given him the strength to stand above everything as a Symbol of Peace.

Of course he didn't risk anything, he's never known risk. What risk is he taking going up against villains, himself having enough power even now to completely rearrange the enter countries weather patterns with just a single punch?

His own scream ripped through him, what kind of a hero was he if he couldn't even use his quirk.

* * *

Chapter 1: Look Mom, I'm dead, isn't it amazing!

Izuku ran with everything she had and found... she wasn't getting tired, she could just keep going without stopping. She didn't even need to breathe she realized. She didn't have super strength though, or anything like that.

She just... didn't need to breathe, or rest. It was kind of weird, and amazing. She couldn't wait to tell her mother... maybe leave out the suicide part, claim to have been near that explosion, that could work...

She stopped by a furniture store though, to really get a good look at herself.

"L-Little girl, please sit down, you're-Cold, Jim, Jiiiim!"

Maybe she shouldn't have just barged in, still being bloody and all. Still, she found what she was looking for, a full body mirror. Her skin wasn't just Pale, it was translucent, she could see the roots of her hair and all the blood veins. Her sclera were pink, but her eyes were still dark green, and her hair was still green too. She pulled at her hair and it wasn't about to fall out, she gave it a rather hard tug and... her stitches broke, she pulled off most of her scalp.

But then she saw as strings muscle came out from under her skin, sticking out of the wound and piercing her scalp again, pulling it back down and stitching the wound closed again. She grinned and ran out of the store despite people screaming for her to stay and wait for the ambulance.

She kept running, running through alleyways to try and get home as fast as possible. She had a quirk, she could be a hero she-

She's still bloody and at her house, still bloody and probably going to give her mother a heart attack. Usually she thinks this stuff through, a side effect of the quirk or sheer joy of having one... questions for later.

She looked through her things, where was her key... oh, it stabbed through her pocket and into her leg. She can't feel pain, oh my god she can't feel pain this quirk is the best. She pulled her key from her leg and, wiping off the blood, unlocked the door and walked in.

"Mom I have a quirk!"

"Sweetie, you-OH MY GOD!" Her mother said, clutching her chest with one hand and steadying herself with the other by grabbing the back of the couch. It wasn't enough and she fell over. "What happened, why are you covered in blood-ARE THOSE STITCHES!?"

Izuku laughed and ran over to her mother, pulling her up. "I died and I came back, I finally found my quirk mom!"

Her mother fainted. Right... she died... she just told her mother she died.

She should probably calm down and think through what to do when her mom wakes up.

First, she drags her mother to the front of the couch and lifts her onto it, then makes her way to the shower to clean the blood from her body. She undresses and quickly rinses the blood from her body and hair. While she feels the water it doesn't feel the same, it's very dull in comparison to how it usually felt... dulled nerves, she guessed. Considering she's kind of dead she's surprised she feels it at all, especially when she didn't notice the keys or didn't really feel her scalp ripping from her skull before that.

Once she cleaned up and went over to her bedroom and pulled on a basic blue tee-shirt with All-Might on it as well as a pair of dark green cargo shorts. Her old clothes she'd probably end up throwing away after she explained everything. She heard a gasp as her mother woke up and then rapid footfalls, doing a few breathing exercises to calm herself down. Then her mother burst into the room and pulled her into a hug, holding her for a moment then letting her go and taking a step back.

"You, You're cold, why are you so cold!"

She smiled to try and ease her mothers' worries. "Mom, I... I got caught in a villain attack on the way home, it caused an explosion and I... died." She said, she felt bad about lying but she didn't need a suicide on her record in her attempts to become a hero. Her mother started to hyperventilate, her skin going pale as tears poured from wide eyes.

"But, then, I got back up, and all my wounds were closed with these stitches... I learned by accident those are strings of muscle."

That much was true, she hadn't meant to rip her own scalp off, total accident.

"Izuku…" Her mother side, reaching and grabbing her wrists, tears pouring down her cheeks faster as she realized there was no pulse, then her mother put a hand on her chest, looking for a heartbeat. Then she started sobbing and pulled her into a hug. "Izuku, I'm so sorry."

"Mom, you don't need to be sorry, I have a quirk now mom, I'm not quirkless anymore."

* * *

Katsuki stared out of his mothers' car as they drove to the nearest hospital. He'd been fixed up by one of the emergency heroes but she wanted to get him checked out in case the healing quirk missed anything. Suddenly they stopped and his mother started screaming obscenities and hitting the car horn. He rolled down his window and started looking around. There were people crowding what looked like yellow police tape. He rolled his eyes, just one problem after another.

He noticed something red and looked up again, there was a pair of shoes with the laces tied together, red sneakers just like Dekus. His mothers' car started to move again as the police made a gap through the crowd for cars to go through. A blood splatter, and a vague image, maybe a body...

"Take a swan dive off the roof of the building!"

"Mom stop the car!" He said as his eyes went wide. "Mom stop!"

She did, and before she could ask why he'd pulled off his seatbelt and gotten out of the car. Please let him be wrong, please let him be wrong. He got himself clear of any bystanders and blasted himself up into the air, towards the shoes, and pulled them from the powerline. They looked exactly like Dekus shoes. Same size, same shade, same burn marks near the top where he'd grabbed Deku by her ankle when he and another student tossed her in the trashcan.

They were Dekus shoes. He dropped to his knees, this can't be right, no someone just as the same kind of shoes, the burns might be from their own quirk. He looked in the shoes and saw a note. He pulled it out as police closed around him, realizing he'd found evidence and moving to take it.

He opened the note before they could pull it from his hands, his mother arriving before they did.

 **Goodbye, Kacchan**

He screamed as the police pulled the shoes and note from his grasp as his mother head him close, having seen what the note said and realizing who's blood was on the street.


	2. Can do a Lot of Damage

_Prologue, Part 2: … can do a lot of damage._

* * *

Once her mother stopped crying and realized, odd as it might be, she had a quirk, her mother had decided to call Mitsuki and let her know. So with her mother occupied Izuku decided to prepare some sort of dinner, Aunt Mitsuki would probably be coming to celebrate her having a quirk... big portions.

With that in mind, Izuku went over to the kitchenette and pulled her apron from its hook. She slipped her head through the loop and tied the straps around her midsection as she thought about what to make. Katsuki and Masuro both enjoyed spicy food, while his mother preferred sweet things. Her mother liked starchy foods and she herself liked savory things, such as pork.

She wondered if that taste for pork was a side effect of her quirk, just dormant, as she grabbed a few vegetables from the fridge. She put them on a cutting board before going back into the fridge and pulling out some ham. Her mother was starting to get frantic but she couldn't make out the words.

Probably just her mother realizing she just told her best friend her daughter died and now trying to explain everything's okay.

She went into the pantry, grabbing a bag of rice and bringing back to the counter. She started to hum to herself as she cut open the bag and poured the rice into a serving bowl. Once it looked like there would be enough rice she began to chop the vegetables, getting the pieces nice and small.

As she chopped she smiled, already thinking about what kind of hero costume she'd have. One comic style that survived the appearance of quirks was zombie horrors, girls with rather gifted chests and lucky boys fighting through schoolyards and cities against hordes of their former classmates. She could probably do a play on that for her outfit.  
She pushed the cut celery aside and shook her head, focusing on cutting the vegetables, it wasn't safe to daydream with a knife. Especially not with her mother coming into the room.

"Izuku, are you sure it was an explo-YOUR FINGER!"

She blinked and held her hand up, looking at her now half-sized pinky. Before she could say anything pink threads shot from the cut and moved rapidly the other part of her finger. She watched as the strands pierced through the edges of the wound and pulled it back up to her hand, stitching the finger back into one piece.

Her eyes widened and shone with excitement, she might not have realized the cut but when the strands touched her pinky she felt it reconnect. She looked around, ignoring her mother's concerned questions and saw the TV Remote.

She pulled the cleaver from the knife block.

"Izuku, what are you-Izuku no!"

She brought the cleaver down on her left wrist, grabbed her severed hand and threw it at the remote, landing just a bit too far. Her mother screamed as the strands shot out and reconnected with her hand and tried to grab the remote as the muscle strings pulled her hand back.

Her mother, pale as a sheet, stared in horror as she grinned and turned on the TV. This had potential. She turned off the TV and looked over the cutting board, not really much blood to speak of, probably because her heart isn't beating anymore. She shrugged and continued preparing the vegetables and meat as her mom stood there making little, horrified squeaks.

Maybe she should make it starch heavy, help her feel better.

Cooking had been relaxing, and she hadn't felt the urge to go after raw meat yet so, no zombie side effects she guessed. Once she was done she guided her still horrified mother over to the table and given her a bowl of stir fry before running to her room with the cleaver to start analyzing her own quirk.

She bit her lip to contain a squeal of excitement, she never thought she'd get to do this. She pulled a fresh notebook from her bookshelf and began writing. She decided to call it Patchwork Zombie, and figured it was probably a mutant type.

"Muscle fibers now serve a secondary purpose, able to twist and form sutures to reconnect nerve endings and body parts. Activated permanently by death." She said to herself as she jotted what she knew down. Once done she started to work on her own costume design, she'd probably need someone crazy to be willing to help her.

She began drawing a blank character resembling her own body type and was about to create the costume when she heard a crash from the front door followed by her mother screaming. Izuku shot up and ran out of her room to find Mitsuki and Masuro checking on her mother, who had yet to take a bite of the food she made and was now standing, looking at wall opposite of the door.

As they fussed over her mother she looked at the front door... frame, the door was not in the frame. She followed her mother's gaze and found the door, in two pieces, sticking out of the wall. She blinked and looked into the kitchen, where Kacchan was staring at her in some mix of horror and shock.

"So... I take it you're not here to celebrate me finding my quirk?" Izuku said, causing Mitsuki and Masuro to freeze and slowly turn to where she was standing. They didn't say anything, just staring, so she waved nervously. "Hi Auntie Mitsuki, Uncle Masuro."

Mitsuki then rushed over and hugged her tightly. "Oh god I thought you were dead, there was so much blood and there was a pair of shoes just like yours with a note and that cute pet name you have Katsuki!" Mitsuki said as she swung her around. "Have you been eating right, you're kind of pale and cold dear."

"... You, saw that?" She said, looking a bit sheepish. "Oh, uh..."

"In fact, you're actually very cold come on let's get you wrapped up. Katsuki, go find an electric blanket would you, she's as cold as a..." Mitsuki said as she grabbed Izuku's wrist, then started to trail off and stare at her. After a moment of this, she let go of her and put a hand down Izukus shirt, pressing against her chest.

"A-Auntie!" "Mom!?" "Honey!?"

"Why... Why can't I feel your heartbeat?" Mitsuki said as she started to pale, her eyes darting and finding all the stitches Izuku's quirk generated."I... don't have one anymore." Izuku said, then smiled sheepishly. "I call it Patchwork Zombie, what do you think?"

Mitsuki turned even more pale as she put her hands on Izukus shoulders. "P-Patchwork Zzzombie?"

Izuku nodded as Masuro collapsed backwards into a chair while Katsuki put his hands on the counter, barely able to keep himself from falling as the blood drained from his face at record speeds. She stepped back from Mitsuki and did a little twirl. "You don't need to look like that, I have a quirk now, isn't it amazing!"

"You fucking jumped from a five-story building you idiot, how could you do that and smile!?" Katsuki said from across the room. "You died, you died and there was blood everywhere, you took off your shoes and put a note and everything you tried to kill yourself!"

"And then I came back with a quirk, isn't it amazing!" Izuku said, grinning, making Mitsuki take a horrified step back while Katsuki flinched as if he'd been struck with a baseball bat. "Now I can be a hero, I even have cool tricks now!"

She put her wrist against her bedroom door and, after pulling the cleaver from her apron, chopped her hand off again. They all screamed and she threw her hand to the arm of the couch. The muscle strings shot out again and once they connected she grabbed the couch and found herself reeled towards it, sliding across the ground. The strings once again stitched her back together and she stood up, hands in the air.

"Tada!"

Masuro fell out of the chair, as did Inko, having fainted from the scene of a small, 15-year-old girl being dragged across the floor by strings made from her own muscles, erupting from a stump of an arm and stitching her hand back on to said stump.

Katsuki fell backwards onto his backside while Mitsuki dropped to her knees, tears welling in her eyes. She could hear Katsuki muttering to himself, asking what he had done, that it wasn't supposed to be like this. Mitsuki crawled over to her and looked over her wrist, and then pulled her in close and started crying.

"I'm so sorry sweetie, everything's going to be okay, we'll find out what's happened to you."

Izuku was confused. "But, it's just my quirk, I have a quirk now, why are you so sad Auntie?"

* * *

Katsuki looked in horror as his mother picked herself up and carried Izuku out the door, stopping only to tell him to get his father onto the couch and Inko into a bed. He'd nodded, his mind spinning and barely keeping himself together. First, he moved Aunt Inko to her bed, then his father to the couch. The smell of blood filled his nostrils, today had gone wrong in so many ways he couldn't keep up.

It had started as a normal day, walk to school, accidentally bump into Izuku and bully her about being useless. Once he'd said a few things to keep her from thinking he liked her around, he'd walk away then continue walking to school while keeping her in view. Once at school he'd fire off his quirk, remind the extras they were worthless seeing as their quirks couldn't do shit and they weren't exactly geniuses while making sure the teachers gave him that extra lesson, that extra tip in hopes of riding on his fame.

Before making his way home he'd remind Izuku that she's quirkless, that she can't be a hero without a quirk. Then he'd pretend to leave her alone but instead just take back alleys to watch her from the shadows, make sure the alleys were clear of the sort of filth that might make her disappear.

It was all working out, Izuku was walking away from being a heroine, he was keeping her safe, and he was getting free tutoring to use his quirk more effectively.

Then he learned from his teacher that Izuku was still going the hero route, applying for UA, so he pushed harder, told her to jump from a building, burnt her shoulder. He tried to scare her off, turn himself into something scary enough that she'd be afraid of going to UA because he'd be there.

Then he'd graduate, playoff UA reformed him and not say he'd practically tortured himself mistreating her to keep her safe. He'd get his own agency, put her in charge of analyzing quirks, making sure his sidekicks got the best training and the best tactics for countering the quirks used by villains.

He'd seen her notebooks, she'd reform any agency to number one by analysis alone. The only reason he blew up her notebook is that it had notes on him and if some villain got ahold of Her Notes on His Quirk, he was as good as dead!

Then, he gets caught by a villain, who starts trying to kill him and use his body to wreak havoc. He couldn't escape, he could barely think from the lack of air. When he finally powers his way free it damn near kills him and when he wakes up he learns the worst part. He'd killed people, his escape blast collapsed the building a hero had been using to evacuate people from the fires caused by his previous attempts to escape.

Not to mention the gas line explosion.

Suddenly he thought about those extras at school, how many of them just didn't say anything for fear of him causing worse damage after he blasted them. How many kids had he bullied went home with much more severe damage than they let on for fear of him?

As those thoughts plagued him he realized how much damage he did to them, in the form of Izukus blood on the street and her shoes up in a powerline with a fucking Goodbye letter to him. He'd told her to jump and she did, he pushed too hard and might as well have thrown her from the rooftop himself.

How many students were pulled from his school and how many had followed her example?

He had no way of knowing but she was hardly the first person he made that comment too, and not all of them went to his school anymore.

Then his mother gets a call from Aunt Inko saying that Izuku is home. For fear of losing her his mother spun the car around and drove straight to Inkos home. The moment he came into the room he saw Inko pale as a sheet, barely moving with stir fry in front of her. He smelt blood, one teacher had told him to get used to identifying the smell, train his nose to look for it and he had. Made sense to him, if you can smell blood either someone's hurt or someone's dead, both of which are important.

He bolted to the kitchen and found a mess of blood, as if body parts had been chopped off and flung around. He put his hand in his pocket to call the police when she appeared out of her room, pale and wearing a bloodied apron with a cleaver in the pocket like some demented butcher. Her lips were blue and her eyes bloodshot, she had stitches crisscrossing her head and arms. She looked so confused, but also happy to see them.

 _I made you jump off a building why are you smiling and laughing like it's your birthday!_

She said she had a quirk now, that she could be a hero and even figured out a new trick. Then she cut her hand off using her bedroom door like a fucking cutting board and, with blood oozing from her stump of an arm and dismembered hand, throws her hand to the couch. He watched in utter horror as strings of muscle burst from the edges of the wound and dragged her to her hand, using her own damn blood to slip across the floor, and stitch her back together.

She was so proud, unflinching to the fact she just mutilated herself on a damn whim.

Katsuki fell back onto the tile and curled up, sobbing into his knees, his sweat searing his jeans and legs as he held them against his chest.

What had he done...

* * *

Naomasa Tsukauchi wasn't one to take a detour on the way to the station. He'd been in the area of a suicide and was roped into investigating it. He'd done his investigation and now he needed to report his findings.

So when the station he's driving to calls him and tells him to take a detour to the local hospital, he's curious as to why. They tell him they found the jumper and they need his quirk to verify. That just confuses him more but he doesn't question it, yet. Instead, he goes to the local hospital and finds himself led to a room with a blonde woman and a little greenette.

"Hello, I am Detective Tsukauchi, do you two know something about the jumper on Minamoto Street." He says, and the blonde pales and points at the little girl, who looks sheepish.

"That was me..."

... Why is his quirk telling him she's telling the truth?

"I'm sorry, do you mean it was you who saw the jumper?"

"No, I jumped from the roof and discovered my quirk, want to see it?"

"No!" The blonde said, grabbing the girls wrists before she can reach for a nearby scalpel. No lies, the atmosphere of the room was suddenly very uncomfortable or everyone but the girl. He looks at her again and starts to notice a few key features backing her up. Her lips are blue and her chest isn't moving. On top of that, she has a number of oddly colored stitches where bones would have broken and likely torn out of her body. One set in particular around her scalp and face, as if she'd split her head open.

He sighs and sits down in one of the chairs, then looks at the blonde woman. "I'm sorry, could I get your names?" He said, pulling out a notebook and noting what's happened so far.

"My name is Mitsuki Bakugou, and this is Izuku Midoriya. Her mother is a close friend of mine and after she called saying her daughter was home, bloody and telling her about dying and discovering her quirk..." She said, then looks away, not lying, just hard to talk about. "We came to check on her and she... she cut off her hand to demonstrate her new quirk, the way she's been acting is frankly terrifying and I wanted to know if maybe the fall did more than create a quirk."

Is she not my friend's daughter anymore went unsaid.

He started a conversation with the girl, letting his quirk catch anything that might be a lie, something she might be saying just to get what she wants.

The results were disconcerting, but not unexpected.

"Mrs. Bakugou, if you'd step outside with me."

She nods and they walk out of the room, once the door was closed he sighed heavily. "Mrs. Bakugou, what can you tell me about Izuku before all this happened?" He said.

"She was a sweet, selfless, little thing, shy and bullied rather heavily but always dreaming of being the sort of woman that saves people with a smile on her face." She said. "All-Might was her role model in a lot of ways."

He nodded, then pointed at the hospital room door. "Mrs. Bakugou as I'm sure you're aware, quirks are a part of us, they affect our minds, whether we like it or not our quirks change us in ways that make us able to use them with the same amount of thought as walking, or breathing." He said, then rubbed his temples. "In extreme cases, we classify this mental change as 'Quirk Instability', in which a quirk causes a drastic change in personality that makes the user okay with actions that only the unhinged would do."

She nodded and paled even further as she realized what exactly that meant. "So, She..."

"She can't understand what's wrong with having jumped to her death or cutting off her limbs, her mind is wired in such a way by her quirk." He said. "The best we can do is encourage her to be a hero and use her power for good, in the hopes that her inability to fear death and dismemberment will be curbed by her desire not to terrify the people she's saving."

* * *

Izuku grinned as Mitsuki drove her back home, she had a quirk and the nice man said he'd arrange for someone to help her learn how to best use her quirk. She already had ideas but professional help would only make her into a better hero.

Auntie Mitsuki still wouldn't let her near the cleaver though.

When they got home Katsuki looked at her, his pants were burnt at the sides and his eyes were red. He walked over to her and reached out, she flinched and he froze, fresh tears escaping his eyes. His hands hovered around her, as if afraid to touch her, to break her. After a bit, she stepped forward into his arms. He held her gently, his face buried in her collarbone.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He said. "I won't do it again, I promise, please don't do it again, please."

"It's okay, Kacchan, we're going to be heroes," Izuku said as she hugged him back. "I promise."

Masuro and Inko had woken up by now, and Mitsuki took them into another room to explain what both the doctors and the detective had discovered about Izuku's mental state. Meanwhile, happy to have her friend back, and not as a bully, Izuku dragged Katsuki to her room to share all her notebooks and merchandise with him. Things she'd discovered other heroes doing that she bet Katsuki could use, as well as her new posters and All-Might memorabilia.

She showed him the different moves she'd created for him, measuring his blasts from years after years of being hit by them. She gave him ways to kick with equal force to Mt. Lady's Canyon Cannon, came up with ideas for costume gear that could focus his explosions behind him to make him hit harder. After everything he'd done she only ever wanted to help him.

He remembered attacking her, elbow slamming her ear, slamming an open palm into the side of her midsection and blasting her, grabbing her hair and backhanding her with a closed fist. He remembered joining in groups circling her and kicking her while she curled up on the ground, destroying her belongings and attacking her dreams. All the while she just, took it, used it to further study him and now, help him?

He broke, he couldn't stay here, he couldn't be near her he didn't deserve to be near her.

He ran, ignoring her sudden cries for him to come back. He ran down the complex and got to his family's apartment and locked himself in his room. He cried, he lashed out, he cursed himself and his quirk for ever having hurt her. He ripped down his All-Might posters and moved to attack his desk when he stopped. There, sitting innocently, was an All-Might figurine. Silver Age costume, the same one Izuku had.

 _"Kacchan, look, look!"_

 _"Haaa? Is that!?"_

 _"Yeah, Two All-Might!"_

They were the last ones at the store, he'd spent all his allowance getting both of them so they'd both have one. He wasn't able to buy the comic he wanted but, he couldn't just buy one with his best friend next to him. He picked it up carefully, as the tears came back anew. He clasped the figurine in both hands and cried.

"Izuku… I'm so sorry." He said, clenching the figurine. "But I promise, when we get to UA... no-one will Ever, hurt you again."

He stood up and started drawing on a notebook of his own, creating the image he wanted for himself, and adding in the specs and tricks Izuku had mentioned. He'd keep her safe as he should have from the beginning.

* * *

Izuku didn't understand why he ran off like that, Masuro and Mitsuki following behind him, she figured she'd find out in school, eventually. She shrugged and made sure her apron was on straight. She needed to train for the exams. "Mom, I'm heading out!" She said as she left through the doorframe, a chef knife in her apron.

She grinned and began to run, the beach should be a good place to start, last she heard one section was used as a dump, maybe she could find some weights.

As before, she noticed her legs wasn't getting tired, and she didn't need to breathe so she wasn't getting winded either. She decided to see just how much she could take and started running as fast as she could push herself and it didn't change anything, before the fall she could maybe run this fast for a few seconds before she got tired but now she could just keep going. She couldn't go faster than her old limit though, try as she might despite there being no pain it was like there was a wall, her legs just wouldn't move faster.

She still had to train, and that made her smile a bit, if she trained and got better that meant she wasn't going to rot, if she didn't... maybe suspended existence, unable to grow but unable to rot, or she'll rot. Lost in her thoughts and running at her top speed, she made it to the beach but missed the stairs. She flew forward and smashed her face into a refrigerator, she peeled herself off of the junk and found she couldn't see or smell anything. There were some pops and she felt her face reconstruct itself. Before she knew it she was good as new as far as she could feel.

She checked her reflecting in the chef knife, a few new stitches over her face but other than that, good as new. She pulled off her shoes again and looked around at the junkyard. This would make a perfect place to test her quirk! She looked at her fingers, and the chef knife, time to get to work.

"Okay, so, I can grab things once the muscle threads reconnect with my dismembered hand, but cutting my wrist off right now is hard, I can't do it on the fly." She said as she climbed the refrigerator. "So, maybe I could bite a finger, no, two!"

She opened her mouth and bit off her middle and index fingers from her right hand and spat them and the blood into her left hand. She looked across the trash, saw another fridge, and threw her fingers. Soon the threads shot out to reconnect her fingers to her body, and she got lucky enough that when the reconnected, she could hook her fingers to hold onto the fridge. She lurched forward as she was reeled in towards the fridge again and immediately noticed a problem.

All the trash between her and the other fridge was disorganized, uneven, and a mix of hard, sharp, and blunt.

She went from sliding on her feet to stubbing her toes and sliding head first into a microwave, which caused her to vault upward and lose her grip. Her fingers flew back to her and were stitched back onto her hand just in time for her to faceplant into, thankfully, a spot of sand that wasn't covered in trash.

And then her knife, which and been flung out of her apron, fell down and stabbed into her shoulder.

She really needs to stop being so excited about her quirk she doesn't think first... Izuku shook her head and looked around, then pulled the knife out of her shoulder and smeared the blood from her knife onto a whiteboard someone had thrown out. If she moved the trash a bit, measured and stacked it, maybe took some to the actual dump...

She smiled and put the knife back in her apron, grabbing the whiteboard, and standing it up. Time to make a training plan.

Taking the knife out of her apron again she cut her left palm, letting the blood pool before dipping her finger in it and writing on the board. First, clean up to build muscle and see if she can still get stronger, second, use the good pieces to create an obstacle course so she can get used to using the Patchwork side of her quirk to move around, grab objects, and see said sides limits. It was a simple plan, but with a body that doesn't get tired moving around trash should need too much planning.

She smiled at her work and turned around. "Time to clean things up!"


	3. The Path to Recovery

_Prologue, Part 3 : The Path to Recovery..._

* * *

Naomasa Tsukauchi briefly wondered if it would be wrong to walk up to the chief and ask for the scotch he hides in the lower left drawer, in the flask hidden inside the fake cigar case. Quirks had to be registered for a multitude of reasons, in the event of a crime the first thing to check was the quirk registry. However, another reason, the one putting the rather large pile of paperwork in front of him was quirk instability, a fact that he'd been reminded of with one Izuku Midoriya.

It had been two weeks since the event at the hospital, and he'd found some local sidekicks with blood-based quirks who could occasionally help teach her. She needed to go to UA or some other hero school, it might not seem right but with a quirk like hers if she went villain he wasn't sure what would stop her. She hadn't let anything stop her so far and death proved fruitless at keeping her down even when she had originally wanted it to do so.

She'd lived life registered as quirkless, with x-rays of a double jointed pinky toe, which just brought more problems. He'd called Chiyo Suzenji about it, they two were acquaintances through Toshinori. Come to think of it the man was remarkably quiet of late, he should check on him. Anyway, the woman had explained to him if those were her x-rays then she should have been quirkless. So he'd asked the chief if they could investigate the rest of the patients that location had seen. That was a week ago.

The Chief had agreed and had given one of the other officers the files needed to set up a permanent monitor to watch over Izuku and assist with her training. The Monitor Clause was a rarely used part of the Quirk laws, coming into play after the second generation following the discovery of quirks. A short version it stated if someone had an extreme case of Quirk Instability, local hero agencies would be called to check on the affected person every few days. If a hero took a liking to the person, they could apply to act as a permanent monitor.

Rather than help with finding that right hero, he was now going through file after file trying to see just how many people this doctor had screwed over. Still, Naomasa couldn't say he'd been wrong, just regretted not wording it in a way to have someone else stuck with the job. The hospital that ran the quirk testing was still active and, luckily, the doctor involved was still working there.

His quirk had gone off within the first few sentences with the doctor who had misdiagnosed Izuku, and after going over the files she was far from the only one. While he doubted the man knew what Izukus quirk would be she showed a number of traits in the testing showing a dormant quirk as did many others. By listing them as quirkless the parents wouldn't know what to fix or what their child might need to keep their quirk instability from causing psychosis.

Much to the doctors' chagrin, other members of the staff were in charge of the initial testing. Izuku had shown a heavy preference for certain foods, pork and cocoa especially, as her self preservation even prior to when he'd met her was minuscule. Further digging showed he'd misdiagnosed at least a dozen different children, all of which showed signs of very dangerous dormant quirks. One of which who was already on the run from the authorities, one Himiko Toga, whose appetite for blood had shown very quickly in the initial tests.

He shook his head, the only reason he'd manage to make people believe their children were actually quirkless was with various fake x-rays of quirkless feet. What he didn't understand was why, why would he lie about these patients. He'd ruled out fear of the quirks, Quirk Instability was a well-researched topic and he could think of a few candy shops that could handle a taste for blood.

He rubbed his temples and picked up his findings, he'd drop them off with the chief then go find Toshinori. Maybe he could get into contact with Sir Nighteye, his agency might be useful in finding the other children.

Paperwork dropped off, coat on, and he made his way out before pulling out his phone and dialing Toshinori. A couple of rings and the man picked up.

"Detective Tsukauchi, how can I help you today?" Toshinori said from the other line, he sounded tired, must be in his civilian form. "I understand you've been investigating a doctor linked to false quirk diagnosis crimes?"

"Good to know you're still keeping up with the news, I was hoping you could get me into Sir Nighteye's agency." He said as he made his way to his car. "Also, I wanted your opinion on who might be a good hero to monitor a quirk instability case linked to the investigation."

"Sir Nighteye and I don't get along as much as we used to, still I'm sure he'd understand the importance of the case, I'll let him know you're interested in a team-up," Toshinori said, then there was a muffled, wet cough. "As for the instability case, tell me about it."

"Girl committed suicide only to learn she had a dormant self reanimation quirk, one that puts her body back together after it's damaged. She decided to call it Patchwork Zombie, it's registered as a mutant type." He said, leaning back on the side of the car, no reason to get in and tempt himself to drive distracted. "It had been dormant before and she was listed as quirkless, once it activated she lost all sense of self-preservation because she can't die."

"I imagine it gets worse?"

"She doesn't really notice pain so, she doesn't realize it's an issue when people hurt her and doesn't have any issue getting herself severely hurt," Naomasa said, getting a shocked cough, followed by choking. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just a bit of blood down the wrong pipe."

Naomasa rolled his eyes. "You say that so calmly, you realize most people see coughing up enough blood to choke on it as bad?" He said. "You don't get the quirk instability excuse like Izuku."

"... Is that the girls' name?"

Naomasa raised an eyebrow, he sounded sick now. "Yeah, Izuku, why?"

"Izuku Midoriya?"

"You know her?" Naomasa said, well, this might turn out okay, if he knew the girl then he'd definitely know who to send. "Yeah, green hair, sweet kid, wants to be a hero. Doesn't seem to realize her own mortality, granted we're not sure she's not immortal now."

The phone went silent, then he heard a clatter as if Toshinori had dropped the phone.

"Toshinori?"

He waited for a moment, but Toshinori wasn't responding. Naomasa hung up and opened the door to his car, turning the car on and slowly driving out of the parking lot. After a few minutes, he was well on his way to check on his friend. He wondered briefly how Toshinori knew the girl, she didn't seem like she'd be in this situation if she was close friends with All-Might of all people.

Toshinoris' new apartment wasn't hard to get to, he lived fairly humble for a man who made himself into a Symbol. He slowed as he came to the parking lot and once parked, got out and made his way to the hero's apartment. Naomasa wasn't sure when he started to run, Toshinori wasn't the sort to go non-responsive, and his link to Izuku was still in question.

He came up to the door and pulled out his key, the man had long since given him the spare just in case. He threw open the door and immediately saw Toshinori, head in his hands, sitting on the couch. Naomasa calmed himself down and walked over to the man, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Toshinori, you alright?"

The man shook his head and took a few shaky breaths. "You said, Izuku Midoriya committed suicide?" He said, looking up from his hands, letting them rest on his lap. "I met the girl before she did, I... I'd saved her from a villain and she asked me if she could be a hero without a quirk."

Naomasa sat down on the couch next to Toshinori. "Sounds like something she'd ask from the profile we've built on her," Naomasa said, feeling some relief, of course, that's how he met her. Still, he had a bad feeling, not sure what about. "I was thinking calling up Tiger from the Wild Wild Pussycats, there haven't been any recent environmental disasters recently and his stretching might give her some ideas with her little... trick."

Toshinori didn't respond, and Naomasa sighed. "Alright, so, you saved her and she, died anyway but why is this hitting you so hard?" Naomasa said, putting an arm around Toshinori's shoulders. "There's no way you could have known what was going on-"

"I told her no," Toshinori said. "I said that with no power, she could never be a hero."

Naomasa held back a wince, probably not the best thing he could have said.

oshinori stood up, his movements agitated. "When I found her she was being attacked by a sludge villain, I hit the bastard hard enough for force him off the girl and then pushed on her stomach a bit to induce her to cough the rest out." He said, pacing back and forth, his arms moving as he spoke, the movement erratic and annoyed. "I stuffed the main part of the villain into a soda bottle, signed a burnt book, and jumped to leave."

He was breathing heavily, he looked terrified. "She grabbed onto my leg and we landed on the highest building I could find. She asked if a person could become a hero without a quirk and I told her no, that she'd be better off becoming a police officer or a nurse." He said. "She could still save lives and it would be safer, but I didn't say that, no I just said she couldn't, become a police officer, and give up on unrealistic dreams."

Part of Naomasa wondered if he should petition for heroes to get some sort of public relations training, already seeing where this was going and why he felt sick. He pulled out his phone as Toshinori went on about how he had dropped the villain and the result of that. Small world really, to know just how interconnected the events were, scary even.

He wanted to look into it.

He brought up his phones map and entered the address for the Genten building on Minamoto street, the site of the attempted suicide. Sure enough, right next to it is the Shoshen Corporation headquarters, and Naomasa was a bit grateful she hadn't jumped off of that building.

The mess had been big enough with just a five story fall.

Toshinori sat back down in the couch, having ran himself ragged going over the events. "Naomasa, how bad is it?" He said. "Her Quirk Instability?"

He thought about it for a moment and shook his head. "Honestly, it's the worst I've seen and at the same time it's not." He said before getting up and looking through Toshinoris fridge. He had beer, good, they'd both need one. He pulled two of them out and walked back, handing his friend one. "On one hand, the girl doesn't seem to care or realize when she's hurt, and will purposely dismember herself to use her quirk in odd ways."

Toshinori nearly choked on his beer at that. "Dismember?"

"With a cleaver, or by biting." He said as he opened his own beer. "She also has lost the ability to understand why killing herself is wrong, because her quirk wired her brain to realize she doesn't die when she's killed, she just loses consciousness and puts herself back together and to her, that's okay."

"It doesn't seem to give her any violent urges, though her palate seems to lean towards pork in all cases." He said, and he'd listened to more than enough people talk about the similarities between pork and human flesh for ballistic testing. "Aside from just a sheer lack of self-preservation because her quirk negates any possibility of death in a normal sense, she's actually a pretty sweet kid."

Granted, that just made it all the more disturbing to deal with her. How do you deal with a little girl in an apron, asking you what sort of tea you prefer as she chops off her hand and half of her forearm and just tosses it across the damn kitchenette to grab the teapot?

Hearing about it was one thing, watching her do it with the purest, most innocent face he'd ever seen was a very different matter. Still, he guessed he should be thankful, if anything ever fazed him after this he'd eat his coat, plus it helped with his poker face.

"She's at least aware that other people aren't the same, possibly due to how late her quirk came into play, so she knows saving people quickly is important, she's been training herself pretty heavily of late according to the monitors," Naomasa said before taking a drink. Toshinori felt himself nod, he'd received One for All much later than people usually got their quirks and its effects were minor at best. "At the moment we have a couple agencies coordinating to keep her monitored, or someone from the office visits her."

"Right, you asked if I had any ideas on that," Toshinori said, honestly the hero wasn't sure who would be a good match. There weren't a lot of heroes or sidekicks with disturbing quirks anymore, they either went underground or they took desk positions with agencies. His method was much more in the spotlight anyway, so even if they were common they'd avoid him. "Unfortunately I have any ideas on it, heroes with darker quirks tend to avoid me so they don't get stuck in the spotlight. Have you contacted UA, I'm sure Nezu would have an idea or two."

Toshinori stood up and finished off his beer, tossing the can into the trash. "I'll call Sir Nighteye, he says he might have someone who might make a good successor for One for All so I need to talk to him anyway." He said as he went over to his fallen phone. "He'll probably want your opinion on the girl, so make yourself at home."

Naomasa nodded, throwing a quick text to the chief mentioning what he learned from Toshinori.

 **True Man: Prior to suicide, Midoriya was attacked by a villain that caused the incident at Bunki Ave. Saved by passing hero but escaped. Why create a new scene and get self captured if they had already succeeded in escaping?**

 **Woof: Good find, we'll find out. We have a possible monitor for Midoriya, make sure to visit her tomorrow and check if he made a good impression.**

* * *

Inko Midoriya wasn't sure what to make of the person towering in front of her. She had met quite a few heroes of late, all of them slightly intimidating in some way or another. This one, however, was a full foot taller than her and had his rather muscular physique on full display.

His face was hidden by a white mask with four holes, three of which had short gun barrel stems, but his long, grey hair was on full display, spiking behind him reminiscent of an explosion. His shoulders and the sides of his neck where protected with a dark grey guard, which connected to his mask and his vest, said vest doing nothing to hide his rather solid looking pecs. Brown pants tucked into black boots, underneath some sort of grey high pants that thankfully covered the man's abs. His arms had a pair of shoulder high, fingerless gloves in a matching shade of grey as well as massive revolver chambers for armguards.

"Hi, I'm Pro-hero Gunhead, I'm here for Izuku Midoriya." He said, waving rather cheerfully, and Inko relaxed a bit. "Am I at the right apartment?"

At least the man didn't sound intimidating.

"Yes, come on in, you're just in time for lunch." She said and stood aside to give the man room to come in. He bowed slightly and took off his boots and slipped on a pair of tatami slippers she'd learned to keep at the door for random visitors. "Izuku, your monitor for the day is here."

She watched as Izuku looked up from the stove she had been braising some pork on, and smiled at her daughters face lit up with excitement. "Oh my god, you're Gunhead!" She said, and Inko sighed as the girl nearly forgot she had the stove on, taking two steps to come fangirl only to stop and rush back to the stove. "Do you have time to stay for lunch?"

"I could eat," Gunhead said as he walked into the apartment. Then looked at Inko. "You don't mind if I take her to the agency do you, give her some training, see how she's doing?"

"I think she'd love that, she's quite the hero fan, though you might want to call ahead so everyone has a pen," Inko said, he seemed like an okay sort. "She's going to want autographs."

"Oh~?" He said, his hands going up to his mask, right where his mouth would be.

Izuku smiled and put a serving plate on the table, blueberry glazed pork tenderloin, as well as three empty plates. She'd found she had a taste for blueberries after Katsuki had brought a bag of them one day at school to share, though he'd been a bit upset when she devoured them all. Katsuki had turned out to actually want to be friends again, though he was also kind of... different about it, like he wanted her all to himself.

 _"Izuku-chan, I brought you-"_

 _"Fuck off weird brows!"_

 _"Izuku-chan, want to go hang out at the-"_

 _"DIE!"_

 _"Will you be my-"_

 _Boom!_

She sat down and waited for Gunhead and her mother to do that same "Itadakimasu!" They all said before they all started taking portions for themselves.

"So, I understand you're hoping to get into UA Izuku?" Gunhead said, pulling off his mask so he'd be able to eat. Izuku looked at his face for a moment, his eyes were a similar shade of grey as his arm guards, and he had a few wrinkles, not enough to be old but enough to put him in his mid-fifties. His lips were thin and his hairline seemed further back than some of the other people who came to check on her. "They don't usually allow agencies to get more than one intern from them a season, preferring to spread their classes out. Still, they earn their best hero school title, when I do get an intern from them they show a lot of promise."

"You've taught UA students?" Izuku said, fighting the temptation to talk with her mouth full, ever since her quirk activated she's found herself even more fond of pork. Katsuki said she should call people she doesn't like little piggies after watching her eat katsudon last week, he didn't explain why. "Do you have to coordinate what you teach them with their teachers, or do they just let you do whatever?"

Gunhead tilted his head and pointed at the ceiling, smiling widely and closing his eyes. "A bit of both, usually I get a profile from their teacher or from the Principal as well as an overview of where they think the student is lacking." He said, then lowered his hand. "Most of the time I ask for students who look like they're lacking in combat skill but have the potential for it, give them some self-defense pointers. Support heroes don't always remember to keep up on that, and it doesn't end well."

Izuku nodded as Gunhead continued, listening as he described how he taught with a hands-on approach, encouraging his students to attack him so he could show them how to disable an attacker, then attacking back in the same way until they could do it too. She continued to eat her pork while she listened, occasionally stopping to ask questions which he happily answered. Soon they were done eating and he decided to help out with the dishes.

"You know, I'm told your quirk is pretty unique, your monitor from last week said you use your body's regeneration to fight?" He said as he put the clean plates on the rack to dry. "Said it was hard to watch but that you'd do well in our agency, and that I should come to see you."

He held out his hands, and she noticed a small hole in his third knuckles. "My quirks a bit on the odd side itself, my hand's muscle and bone structures are much more complicated than the average person, resembling the inner workings of a gun intermingled with normal hands." He said, then grabbed his right arm with his left hand and made a gesture of cocking his arm like it was a shotgun. "It lets me product sharp, bullet-like pieces of keratin and shoot them out. They pack a punch and if need be I can fire them out at rates equal to common assault rifles set to full auto. End up needing a protein heavy meal or two after those fights though."

Izuku's eyes shined with excitement, and Gunhead reminded himself about the permanent monitor job. Having his own agency would make it difficult but at the same time he could just bring her to said agency, the mother could come too. The little girl was just too cute, despite the pale skin and blue lips, those were a bit scary. Same with the bloodshot eyes but he could overlook that. He saw her grab the cleaver from the knife block and stuff it in her apron, the police agency in charge of the monitor set up for her also warned him about that. He still needed to show a few of his employees how to deal with improvised knife fights, having someone with a cleaver would be a nice twist on today's training.

"I'm ready!" She said, and Gunhead looked her over once more, white short sleeve shirt, dark green knee length skirt, black pants, and a pair of red shoes. He loaded his knuckles, put on his mask, and led her outside, both of them waving goodbye to her mother. A taste of a hero patrol should be a good way to get things started, plus he did still need to call his agency and let them know to get a notebook and start autographing the thing. Should make a nice present for the girl in a few weeks.

"So, we're going to be taking a specific route to the agency, there are a few buildings between us and my agency that have been considered at risk." He said as they left the apartment complex and got onto the sidewalk. He held a finger up as he spoke, slowing drawing a small circle towards the sky. "Hero agencies set up their patrols through a number of different ways. The first thing my agency looks into is our own database, what places have been hit, where have we been catching people."

He glanced over at her and grinned at what he saw, she had a notebook out and was writing down what he was telling her in the prettiest handwriting he'd ever seen. Present Mic would love this kid. He raised his other hand and put another finger into the air. "Next, we look over the police reports we get, as my agency generally puts emphasis on fighting and disabling armed combatants we get those reports twice a week." He said, then clapping his hands together. "I can't talk much about how we set up our patrols here, can't risk someone overhearing and making peoples lives harder, but there's a veteran sidekick of mine whose patrol should be leading him somewhere close."

He watches as she got even more excited, and reached out to tussle her hair. "We'll join him for a part of his patrol, at least until we get to my agency's dojo in the area, from there you'll join us for some training." He said. "From what the police station said you don't have much formal training, but they said you're doing something at a beach park?"

She nodded "Dagobah Municipal Beach, the currents and tides a few years back brought a bunch of trash to the beach and after that people just started dumping stuff there." She said, and he knew where she was talking about. It used to be a nice place, people would go out on moonlight beach dates there and he's pretty sure there are more than a dozen rumors about what goes on in the shack on the pier. "I've been moving the trash around as strength training, and using some of it as obstacles to figure out tricks with my quirk."

He nodded, for self-training that was actually pretty dedicated, clean up the trash and make an obstacle course at the same time. "Clever, once it's finished I should take a look, see if we can't make a more professional one for the more mobile members of the agency." He said, he was overdue to expand his agency building, and an indoor obstacle course and gym would be beneficial. "So, how do you use your quirk?"

She grinned and held up her arm, there was stitching around her wrist and the middle of her forearm. For a half-second, he saw red, who dare hurt this precious pale child. "When I get hurt, my body stitches itself back together." She says, then puts her thumb in her mouth, he had a split second to think it looked cute before he heard her bite her thumb off. She held her hand out to prove, yes, she actually bit the thing off right at her base knuckle before spitting her thumb out. The moment her finger was out of her mouth he watched as muscle-like strings shot out of the stump on her hand caught her thumb, and reeled it back to her hand and stitched it back on. "So long as I can keep my grip, I can drag things to me or drag myself to things with it, though it activates really fast so I need line up my target fast and throw hard to make sure my hand reaches it before the threads catch it."

Gunhead's mind was spinning, not in horror though, the man had seen worse things dealing with villains. No, he was spinning at a mile a minute thinking about how she could use this. "That didn't hurt?" He said, and she shook her head. "So you grabbed the cleaver to-"

"Use my quirk by cutting my hands off!"

Despite his experience, he paled under his mask for a moment at how cheerfully she said that then went back to thinking. "That seemed easy for you, and you went through bone... did that take much effort?" He said, then shook his head. "Nevermind, we'll figure out more at the agency, for now, let's get back to patrol, and give me the cleaver, we shouldn't need it today."

She nodded, handed him the knife, and cleaned her lips on a handkerchief she pulled from her apron and they met up with one of his sidekicks. "Oi, Masquerade, we'll be joining you for a bit, okay!"

His sidekick nodded as they fell in line with him, Izuku almost immediately asking about his sidekicks' quirk. This should be a fun day.

The patrol went without incident, and they soon found themselves at a dojo he used as a check-in point and secondary assignment building. Here rookies could train, get assigned to patrols, and get some experience while making sure there was still a hero presence in safer areas. It also doubled as a secondary source of income, as either one of his more experienced sidekicks or he would teach self-defense classes. It might not stop a villain unleashing some of the more extreme quirks but not every villain opened with a quirk or had a useful one, so they'd use weapons.

He brought her into the dojo and motioned for her to stand between a pair of his sidekicks. "This is Izuku Midoriya, she discovered her quirk just recently and the local police station is advocating for her to become a hero, so she'll be joining us today." He said, answering the unasked questions of the civilians as well as letting the sidekicks know who she was.

She's the monitored case, and they're her big brothers in case someone tries to instigate something. It wouldn't be the first time a visible mutant quirk like hers got some whispered taunts. Once everyone was in place he began simple, at first they started punches and kicks, twenty repetitions each.

He noticed as the reps ended she looked at her hand for a bit as if figuring something out. After that Masquerade came in and took over while he led Izuku to one of the side rooms so he could do some one-on-one training with her. "Saw you look at your hand, did you have an idea?"

She looked at him and nodded. "Sort of, what if I had a bracelet that could cut my hand off, then I could punch and throw my fist at someone." She said, putting her left hand around her right wrist. "Then when it bounces off and the strings attach to my hand and start to reel it back, I could grab them and reel them in too."

He looked at her for a moment. "You want a guillotine for your wrist?" He said, rubbing his chin. "You know, I think a few support companies could do that, and with Power Loaders luck, at least one student will be crazy enough to make it."

She grinned and took a step back. "So, now what?" She said, and Gunhead took out a knife and tossed it between his hands, then shook his head, putting it back in the rack.

"We're going to do some physical testing, see what you can do after a couple weeks self-training on that beach." He said, pulling out a remote and pressing a button. Izuku looked down hearing a sound from the floor. A pair of tiles flipped open and a thick rod shot up, covered in leather. "Go ahead and give this a few punches, so we can test your strength."

She nodded and stood in front of the rod and he looked at the wall, pointing the remote at it and pressing a button. The wall opened up and showed a screen just in time for her first punch. He blinked and looked at Izuku, while he'd expected a hard hit he didn't think it'd be that loud. He looked at the screen again whistled.

"Good hit, do it again." He said, she'd slammed the sensor with nearly 300 pounds of force. She kept punching and he watched the new numbers come up on the screen, peaking about 316 pounds of force. "Not bad, you sure you've only been training for a couple weeks?"

She nodded and Gunhead hummed. "Maybe a side effect of your quirk then, now, since you seem to have zombie powers..." He said, and he took out a bite force tester, a pork chop shaped device with a digital display. The devices had originally been made for dogs and had no real shape but as quirks came into play more human-friendly ones were made and shaped like food. "Bite this."

He watched her take the fake porkchop, then at him, then at the fake porkchop. "It's to test your bite strength." He said, and he realized she might find it odd or didn't want to bite something that looked human. He did have other ones for people who felt like that like the t-bone steak one, but then she went to bite it and he pulled out his cell for a picture.

As he expected she managed a picture-perfect scene. The girls cheeks puffed as she fit the side of the pork chop shaped test into her mouth, her lips still covering her teeth as her eyes stared at the test with determination.

 _Click_

Izuku looked up, the test still in her mouth, eyes brimming with confusion when his phone's camera clicked in response to him taking a picture of her. Her mother would probably love that pic for teasing purposes. She was still looking at him in confusion.

Gunhead looked at Izuku, then the camera app on his cell, back at her.

 _Click_

Her face went red _Click_ and he looked at the digital display, putting his cell away. He whistled at the 200-pound reading. "Okay, so, your jaw is definitely stronger than average." He said as he grabbed the test device, she let go of it easily and looked down at her feet. "Oh don't look like that, the pictures were cute, your mother will love these"

Gunhead hummed to himself, hit the button on the remove to retract the screen and punching gauge, and patted Izuku's head. "Anyway, those were all good readings for your age, real good. We'll keep up on your training and UA will be begging for you." He said as he led her back to the main room. "Hey Masquerade, could you take Izuku home during your next patrol, I've got a phone call to make and some paperwork to fill out."

The sidekick nodded and gestured for Izuku to follow, and Gunhead went into the small office the dojo had. He grabbed Izuku's file and dialed the number on the main page. "Hey chief, Gunhead calling, send the paperwork to for me to request monitoring be left to my agency, she's going to be a blast here." He said as he sat down at the desk and pulled up a registry of local quirk assessment clinics. "Thanks, let me know if my agency can be of any help investigating the events being the misdiagnosis clinic."

He hung up the phone and pulled up his work email as well as the dojos roster. From his little test he could see her quirk was more than reanimation and stitching, she needed a proper examination. After picking out a few of sidekicks he sent out an email message to do a quick investigation of a few of the assessment clinics. If one got a good grade he'd bring the idea up with the girls' mother.

Oh, that reminded him. He pulled out his cellphone and with a quick check of the files to make sure he was texting the right number.

 **Gunhead: Hey, Mrs. Midoriya, Gunhead letting you know one of my sidekicks will be bringing your daughter back to you. On a side note she's adorable, I took pictures.**

He hit the attach file button and attached all three pictures before sending.

 **Inko M.: Thank you for the heads up, and for the adorable pictures, they'll be perfect for the snap book.**

Gunhead grinned behind his mask and put the cell away once more.

* * *

Katsuki Bakugou wasn't usually a quiet kid, his verbal fights with his mother were legendary in the complex. That had changed over the course of two weeks, his mother had gotten counseling for him after the explosion and everything that happened with Izuku. He'd only been to a couple sessions so far, but when it came down it he felt keeping Izuku safe from the freaks and leeches at school helped him more, made him happy. Her first day back after discovering her quirk had been an eye opener just like everything else recently.

Watching everyone go from bullying her to jumping to try and befriend her and ride her coattails, it made him sick. He knew that's what had happened back when he discovered his quirk, and he also knew that he'd been taking advantage of it but seeing it from the outside... where he once saw poor saps now he saw slimeballs he couldn't bring himself to associate with. He rubbed his eyes as he looked through another webpage, looking up foods he could reintroduce her to know that her quirk was active and had practically rewritten her mind. The day at the cafeteria reintroducing herself to pork-no, don't think about that day, down that path lies madness.

Blueberries had been a good choice, so he went back to the same nutrition site, looking for other foods that had what the brain needed. Zombies eat brains, so the stuff that has what keeps brains healthy would be good for her, right? After his explosion quirk activated he found could barely get enough spicy food and had the biggest sweet tooth he knew. From his research pork was similar to human flesh in a ballistic test and was compared to it by cannibals, though some also compared it to veal. Now he needed brain food, preferably something he could have an excuse for having, so she wouldn't question him having it and people wouldn't realize she wasn't just being nice about the gift.

Chocolate might work, just say his mother got the wrong percentage and give her a bar of 90%, see how she reacts to it. He already planned on how to introduce her to salmon, they were going to UA and went they'd pass he'd ask her out, take her to a nice sushi bar... if she said yes. What if she didn't say yes. She had every reason to say no to a date, but if it's not a date but the two of them having a celebratory lunch as friends, less reason to say no. He could do that, besides, veal might be a better first date introduction. Generally, places with veal were a bit fancier. Maybe after the first year at UA, when they get their provisional licenses, that'd be perfect.

He'd just need to keep all of his classmates off of her, shouldn't be too hard. He was getting a lot of practice with the extras at school and there was still another ten months to work with. Sure, UA would have better quirks than his current classmates but better quirks or not, no-one wanted an explosion to the face. Except for Izuku that one time, wanting to test her quirks limits, probably the only thing he's said no to her about recently.

Someone's knocking on his door, he turned off his computer monitor. "Doors open." He said as he stood up and turned around, Izuku had opened his door a crack and was poking her head in. "Izuku, what's up?"

He was not flustered, Izuku had been in his room before, he was not flustered.

She walked in fully and he noticed some stitching on her thumb, must have demonstrated her quirk recently and that means she's already away from her monitor. She was giddy and he had to prevent himself from showing any anger. He wasn't mad at her, no he couldn't do that anymore, any time he got angry at her he felt sick, what right did he have to be angry at her. No, he was mad at the police and the heroes that listed her under the monitor clause, listing her as a high-risk civilian, saying she needed a constant hand to prevent her from becoming a villain.

The day she became a villain he'd eat his All-Might posters.

"I got to meet Battle Hero Gunhead, he took me to a dojo nearby that he owns and we tested some stuff." She said, punching the air in front of her. "He had me punch a dummy rod and said I'm really strong for my size, I don't think I have super strength but the training on the beach is working out!"

Beach training, what beach training. She was going out and training on her own, calm down, it might not be too extreme. "Beach training, like running in the sand or swimming?" He said, surely she was smart enough not to do something too big on her own, granted she might chop or bite parts of herself off but still she wasn't too-

"I've been cleaning up the Dagobah Municipal Beach, pushing around refrigerators, vending machines, sheet metal, all the really heavy stuff." She said, looking at her hands and listing the stuff off on her fingers. "Oh, and I'm making an obstacle course from the more solid trash, so I can practice using my quirk for maneuver... Kacchan is everything okay?"

He stared at her, eyes wide and his jaw just hanging open as a tiny, barely audible noise escaped his throat. No, nothing was okay, what was she thinking, moving around that kind of stuff on her own. He has dumbbells and weights she could just ask him or she could go to a gym why is she doing this he's had enough heart attacks this month. "You idiot!" He said, screw feeling guilty for getting mad at her for this was for her own safety. He grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her back and forth. "If you want to do heavy weight training you need someone keeping an eye on your do you want to get smashed into a paste you damn idiot!"

"Wah-ah-ah-ah, I'm sorry Kacchan I'm sorry I'll take you with me next time!"

"Damn right you will, if not me then one of the adults!"

"I pro-o-omi-i-i-se I'm sor-or-or-orry-y-y-y!"

Mitsuki came into the room and he stopped shaking Izuku around, she leveled a glare at him. "What are you doing?"

He looked at his mother with as flat an expression as he could manage. "She's been playing with the heavy appliances at Dagobah Beach."

Mitsukis eyes went wide with horror before she ripped Izuku out from his hands, lifted her into the air and started shaking her. "You idiot stop doing such dangerous things!"

"I-I'm So-or-orry-y-y-y-y!"

"Worrying us like this, just wait until I tell your mother, you'll be on a no pork diet for a year!"

Katsuki sighed as his mother berated Izuku, who resembled a green blur with how hard his mother was shaking her. He walked out of the room and to the kitchenette, only stopping for a moment to listen as his mother suddenly jumped in volume. Something told him he didn't want to know what Izuku said. He opened up the fridge and looked around, he was sure he'd told his mother about what he'd studied so she hopefully got something he could give her to calm her down once. Katsuki smiled and pulled out a pair of greek yogurt cups, reminding himself to thank his mother later as he grabbed a pair of spoons and headed to his room.

"He-e-e-e a-a-a-as-s-s-ked abou-ou-out my-y-y quir-r-r-rk!"

"I don't care if he asked, stop hurting yourself needlessly!"

Katsuki felt himself sigh again, hopefully, her hero suit wouldn't turn out too weird. "Don't shake her too hard mom, what if her sutures break open somewhere again and mess up my room?" He said as he walked into his room again, Mitsuki turning pale at the memory that incident. Izuku was pulling the remote to herself by chop and toss when his mother went to visit her, the hand was still stitching itself together when his mother started shaking her and it came back off, getting blood all over the both of them. Mitsuki gently put Izuku down, who started wobbling dizzily as Mitsuki patted her head and left the room. "Heh, old hag... so, want some yogurt?"

Izuku shook the dizziness away. "Sure, thank you." She said, grabbing a cup and spoon from his hands. He chuckled and walked back over to his desk, turning the chair to face the rest of the room and sitting down, by now she'd peeled the yogurt cup open and was about to eat a spoonful. He focused on her face to see how she responded to it, Greek yogurt was good for muscle gain and her sutures were strands of muscle from what they could tell, plus she's trying to get stronger. Her lips closed around the spoon and her eyes lit up, he blinked and in the time it took to do so she went from calmly scooping to licking the inside of the plastic cup. He snorted and peeled the foil lid off his own yogurt. Her head jerked towards his yogurt cup so fast her hair spazzed, whipping up and to the side and then falling back to its original position.

He couldn't help it that time, he threw his head back and barked out a laugh, then shook his head in amusement before going to scoop up some for himself only to feel his spoon hit his inner thumb. He looked down and saw his yogurt cup was missing and then back at Izuku… who was shoveling his yogurt into her mouth? "Hey, that was mine!" He said and she jumped, looked at him, the cup, and then back at him. She bolted for the door while he shot out of his chair. "Come back here!"

Masuro sighed as he watched the kids run out of the apartment, Izuku blushing with embarrassment and Katsuki with half-hearted annoyance. He stroked his wife's side as she lied down on the couch, head in his lap.

It was the blueberry incident all over again.

* * *

zuku ran as fast as she could and noticed she felt a bit faster with each day, granted this wasn't a get to the beach run it was a get away from an angry Katsuki run. She hadn't meant to eat his yogurt but it was just so good, it was creamy and tart and it made her spine shiver just like the blueberries did. When he opened the one in his hand her brain just went "EAT" and she did. She was regretting that.

"Izuku, get back here!" Katsuki said, alternating between running after her and using his quirk to rapidly hover after her when his legs needed a break. If there was one thing her quirk gave her that he was jealous about it was that she never got tired, ever, he wasn't even sure if she still slept. He reminded himself to ask her about that, physically she might not but sleep was good for the brain as well, did zombie brains need rest? He shook his head and blasted after her, he wasn't actually mad but if he didn't pretend now he wouldn't get to tease her about it later, and it was good exercise. "I can't believe you ate my yogurt!"

They were getting pretty close to the beach, so he figured he'd reveal he wasn't actually mad and then the two of them could get to training. She'll take a left in a moment down the slope leading to the main entrance area for the beach and that's when he'd catch her. She ignored the left, why isn't she going down the slope there's a fence there for a reason it was a straight drop. "Izuku don't you dare!" He said a few decibels higher as he upped the strength of the blasts he was using to propel him faster.

Izuku jumped the fence, only for Katsuki to tackle her from behind, arms around her midsection, causing her to squeal in terror as they both shot over the fence. She felt him move her to his right shoulder her face looking down at the ground, her chin on his back. She watched an explosion go off beneath them and slow down their fall, then he hit the ground feet first. "Wow, I didn't know you co-"

"What the hell were you thinking!?" Katsuki said as he flipped her off his shoulder and onto her butt, causing her to squawk from the sudden movement. "You could have broken something!"

Izuku rubbed her arm and stood up. "I would have gotten better." She said, putting at her thumb stitches. "See, I get hurt and then I get better."

Katsuki's hands went up into his hair, grabbing fistfuls and pulling in frustration. "It doesn't matter that you'll get better it's painful to watch you get hurt, for all of us, don't you get it!?" He said, letting go of his hair and grabbing her arms. "When I saw that blood splatter, when you chop off your body parts, it hurts, it hurts worse than anything else I've ever experienced."

He breathed a few times before letting go of her. "Look, I'm sorry if I scared you, I was just messing around to tease you a bit, I don't care that you ate the yogurt." He said, running his fingers through his hair to try and calm down. "Plus I figured you'd run to where you were training at, thinking you'd outpace me since you don't get tired anymore... and you'd start training, instead we're both here, so you're not in danger of going missing under a vending machine."

Izuku stared at Katsuki as he spoke, looking down when she realized she was probably causing a lot of stress to everyone by using her quirk like that. She was also very relieved to hear he wasn't mad about the yogurt but chalked that up to him not knowing how good it had tasted. Looking around she noted he was right, she'd ran to Dagobah Beach, and they'd landed a few yards away from the main dump area. "Sorry, Kacchan…" She said once he'd finished, and he nodded.

"Right, so, now that that's all cleared up... you said you had a plan for an obstacle course?"

She nodded and grabbed his wrist, running to the whiteboard she'd written her plans on. "Yeah, come on, the plans over here."

He relaxed and let her lead him to what looked like a whiteboard with red writing on it. He pulled out his cell with his free hand and sent a quick text to his mother, wondering where exactly Izuku had found a functioning dry erase marker in this literal dump.

 **Ground Zero: Izuku and I are training at the beach, on a side note greek yogurt might be Izuku's new favorite thing.**

 **Mrs. Bakugou: Keep her safe, and I'll make sure we get another box for when she visits.**

He turned off his phone and looked up at the whiteboard... and he realized she hadn't used a dry erase marker.

"Why is this written in blood?"

"All I had was a knife, so I cut my hand and used the blood." She said, looking rather pleased with herself.

"Izuku you could have just gone home and gotten a pen, stop cutting yourself open for minor things!" He said, grabbing her arms and shaking her again.

"I-I-I-I'm Sor-r-r-rry-y-y-y Plea-ea-ea-ease sto-o-op!"

"I'll stop when it gets through your thick skull, you idiot!"

"I wo-o-o-on't do-o-o it aga-a-a-ain I promise!"

Katsuki stopped shaking her and nodded. "Good, now... what should we do first?" He said, letting her go once she was stable again, then looking at the dump pile. He could see vending machines, refrigerators, shelves, cabinets, all sorts of stuff.

Izuku pointed at a pile of scrap that she'd separated from the rest, and Katsuki focused on it, there was a washer, a dryer, two refrigerators, multiple small appliances, a bunch of flat metal sheets, and a vending machine. "That's where I'm putting the usable stuff for now, the small appliances and sheet metal is to make ramps and obstacles for the course, while the washer, dryer, and refrigerator didn't have any sharp spots, so I kept them as stuff to grab and propel myself through the course once it's made." She said, then she focused her finger on the vending machine. "That I grabbed cause it was the heaviest thing I could find, so I was using it as a measure of how much stronger I'm getting but after punching the punching machine at Gunheads dojo, I think I want to nail some mattresses to it for a punching back, think we could do it with some rebar?"

Katsuki grinned. "Should be good control practice, just enough explosion to make the rebar in the tube go through the mattress without shooting it clear through the vending machine." He said, already imagine Izuku holding a tube like a bazooka with one of his hands clamped around the back end. "And still sticking out enough that we can bend it to keep the mattress from falling."

He wondered if there'd be someone at UA crazy enough to build him something like that, store his sweat to be used to fire off ammunition when actual explosions might cause incidents like with that sludge bastard. His fist clenched, he wouldn't make that mistake again, not if he could help it.

Heroes didn't cause mass casualties, they saved lives, and like hell he was going to be anything other than a hero.

"Come on, I think I see a foam mattress over there, maybe there aren't any rats in it!"

"There are rats in this dump!?"


	4. Shouldn't be walked alone

_Prologue, Part 4 : … should never be walked alone._

* * *

Izuku slapped her hands together and put them on her hips, admiring her handiwork. She and Katsuki had found three lengths of rebar, a spool of metal wire, a pair of safes the size of Katsuki's chest, and a bunch of leather jackets. They'd bent the rebar by having Katsuki hold onto the spots they wanted bent and left of the smallest explosions he could, focus more on heat rather than blast, then he'd let go, step back, and she'd drop one of the safes on the heated spot.

It took a while but eventually the ends of the rebar formed large safe shaped hooks, which they could arrange into a cage around the safes. Then they wrapped the center rods with strips of the leather jacket to protect their hands, as well as the safes to help keep them secure. Finally, they wrapped the metal wires around the ends of the leather grip and Katsuki used the same trick as before to heat the metal to keep the leather from falling off.

She squatted down, arms holding the makeshift barbell and started to lift, bringing it up to her chest as she stood up from the squat. Once she was standing she lifted it from her chest and over her head, then she brought it down to her chest, squatted down, and then slowly brought the barbell down before repeating the process. Katsuki called it a Clean and Jerk.

Meanwhile, Katsuki stood six feet in front of her, looking at her as he used is own makeshift weights. His weights were more fun in his opinion to make and took a lot less effort to make as well. He found a few sets of old, thick metal fences with, some twisting, heating with his explosion at a low setting and he had four sharp metal spikes. He then put those metal stakes in a tube, aimed the tube at the top of a microwave, and set off a powerful explosion with the hand covering the back of the tube.

It took a few tries, but he managed to get the metal spikes clean through the microwaves. A quick bend on the bottom to keep the spikes from sliding back out, twist the other ends into handles and voila, he had kettlebells. He needed shoulder muscle, not just for strength but to help deal with his quirks recoil. So with the back of his hands facing forward, he picked up the makeshift weights and lifted them by bringing his arms parallel with the ground, palms still facing forward.

When he first did it, Izuku had to keep herself from laughing, it kind of looked like he was slowly flapping his arms in an attempt to fly. Then she imagined him doing it really fast with an angry face, screaming at some guy who was doing the same in a sudden need to be better. She had to stop repetitions for a bit so she wouldn't hurt herself while Katsuki looked at her in confusion.

Today was the third day they'd started training together, sixth since she'd started. Not much work had gone into the obstacle course yet but they did turn the vending machine into a punching bag of sorts. They eventually found a decent foam mattress without rats making nests in it, but it was only big enough to cover only one side of the vending machine. With some of the extra metal from the fence and some careful work the put holes on the corners of the mattress, the face of the vending machine, and the sides of the vending machine so they could slip a bent piece of metal through the holes and twist them into loops. That held the mattress up to keep their hands from breaking when they practiced their punches and the weight kept the punching target from tipping over or falling so they could hit as hard as they wanted.

Not everything they had found was trash either, such as when she'd found a black bag filled with golf balls. Probably from someone annoyed at the nearby golf course knocking balls into his yard and just throwing them all out rather than return them. They would stand a good twelve yards, one of them would be in charge of throwing golf balls and the other would have to dodge them. Katsuki would throw them with his quirk, turning them terrifyingly fast, and she would throw them normally. At first, Katsuki didn't think it'd be so bad but then he got hit. As it turned out since her muscles were involved in stitching her back together her muscular system was capable of very rapid growth and recovery to keep up. Combined with her never getting tired and so long as she ate as much as she worked she'd see results within hours of her efforts.

Katsuki jokingly said she should see how much stronger she'd get sticking her arm in a wood chipper. Then he had to explain it was a joke and not to do it when the gardeners that kept their complex from looking overgrown came by.

Another thing they learned was she didn't develop scar tissue, but one set of stitches would never leave. The set that went along the top of her head, starting just behind her left ear and trailing across her forehead before going down her jawline. According to his mother, it was probably the wound that killed her, a permanent reminder. She'd touch it sometimes, smiling to herself, the wound that gave her her quirk. Katsuki hated it but was also glad it was there, it kept him grounded in a way.

 _"You caused that, you were her personal villain for eleven years and it cost her her life."_

It was a painful reminder, one he knew he needed, it kept him from falling into old habits.

Izuku decided to do the motions as slowly as she could while keeping her balance so each motion was caused by her muscles working, not by momentum. She would do the repetitions just as long as Katsuki did his, once he was tired they would break for lunch. Once they ate they'd quiz each other for an hour based on the UA mock exam. Once the hour was over they'd start clearing out the trash they couldn't use, carrying it to a large wheeled wooden slab. They'd made it using some rope, a wooden pallet that thankfully wasn't smashed, and the wheels from some chairs.

They'd load it up until they had difficulty moving it despite the wheels, and then they'd walk to the local drop off to give it to be taken to the dump, three trips of that and they'd head home for dinner. While Izuku's undead body could take constant punishment due to its capacity to rebuild rapidly, Katsuki still needed rest days to make sure he didn't ruin his own body. Thankfully Gunhead's agency had been accepted as her permanent monitor, so when she was taken to the Musutafu dojo for training and verifying her mental health, Katsuki would rest.

While he rested he would also plan out the obstacle course, adding pieces and listing what they'd need to find amongst the trash to make it work. Hopefully, before the UA Entrance exams, they'd be able to use it as practice. He'd also, unknown to Izuku, studied zombies and nutrition to find foods that might parallel, as far as he could tell the food she liked most now either boosted brain health, muscle growth, or blood production. When he tried different foods with benefits aimed at other parts of her, digestive health, kidney health, the effect wasn't the same. She'd eat it sure, but if it affected one of the three things before she'd become, well, a zombie and start eating all of whatever it was in sight.

He had gotten to the point of making a cookbook of the best foods he could find that had all three of those benefits, he figured it would make a good birthday present.

Thankfully she decided against celebrating the day she died, Gunhead had convinced her by reminding her the quirk came from a mutation that she was born with, rather than the fall.

"Okay, I'm done," Katsuki said, dropping both of his microwave weights and panting. Izuku nodded and brought her weight down softly, not wanting to risk damaging the barbell they made. Katsuki went over to the cooler they'd put their lunches in before making their way here "Here, catch."

Katsuki tossed her her All-Might lunch bag, which she caught, before bringing out his own and plopping back into the sand. He closed the cooler and set his lunch bag on one side of it, using it as a small table. "So, did your mom make your food this time or you?" He said. Another reason he was making the cookbook is that, to his surprise, she'd apparently been started cooking with her mom as soon as she could reach the counter and once she was twelve she was occasionally cooking for the both of them.

Remembering how she was before her quirk activated, he guessed it was her trying to be useful after all of his taunts.

The one good result of those actions, and not nearly good enough to make up for what he'd done.

She sat next to him and opened her lunch bag on the cooler as well. "I did my own lunch this morning, and made enough to leave mom some." She said as she pulled out a plastic bag with an egg salad BLT. When she opened it Katsuki noted he could smell yogurt, and figured she used greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise. Once her sandwich was out she reached back in for a bottle of pineapple juice. As for Katsuki, he'd made a spicy shrimp-slaw pita sandwich, and brought a bottle of orange juice.

No words were exchanged, though Katsuki had to look away to keep from laughing and choking on his food once Izuku started to eat. She tried to eat with proper manners but the moment her tastebuds registered what she was eating she would always lose control and start stuffing her mouth. Inko had set Mitsuki a dozen pictures when Gunhead had come by to let them know he'd been approved as her monitor. He'd brought an apple pie and as it turned out, apples were good for helping muscle growth. She took one bite and then shoved the whole slice in her mouth, her cheeks puffing up as she held her own face and just sat there with chewing with a dazed look in her eyes.

Katsuki might have gotten the picture from his mother with a text from his mother with the picture, demanding he keeps her safe from all the freaks in the world. He was already doing that but it was nice to have a new wallpaper for his phone. Plus it was great for teasing her, he'd comment she eats every meal like it's her last, she'd defend herself saying she's not all that bad, and then he'd hold up his phone and she'd turn bright red and pout at him.

Izuku watched as Katsuki finished off his sandwich and proceeded to drink his entire bottle of orange juice at once to wash it down, she had finished just a bit quicker than him. "So, what do you think the entrance exam will be like?" She said, putting her empty bottle and plastic bag in her lunch bag and zipping it back up. "I mean, you took the mock exam but there's supposed to be a practical, right?"

"Probably something to do with combat, regardless of how smart you are if you can't fight you're not much of a hero," Katsuki said, leaning his head side to side to pop the joints, then rotating his shoulders a bit. "There are way too many villains nowadays with serious combat potential, like Muscular and Stain, so they'll probably focus on that to help counter the trend."

She nodded and stood up, making her way to the junk pile to start loading up their pallet with trash, Katsuki following suit.

* * *

Toshinori was in a bad place, and he supposed he probably had it coming. Years acting as the symbol of peace, taking on any threat with a smile, only to nearly lose it all in a fight against All for One. If he had to pick the moment he started to go downhill it wasn't the fight, but the recovery process. Learning the great power he had been given was beyond his ability to physically use was the part that broke his spirit. Still, the Symbol he'd created was needed so he put on a brave smile and kept doing hero work.

The time he fought after All for One had nearly destroyed him, sure he took out the villain with ease but once he was alone he realized his own power had reopened all of his wounds. That was the day he'd put Recovery Girl on speed dial, at her demand really, she knew a symbol was needed to keep times from turning dark.

The day of the explosion was hardly the first time he'd failed, but it was the first time he'd failed to even try. After he'd received One for All trying wasn't exactly something he needed to do, his physical power was so beyond everything else he just decided to do things and then they were done. Villain terrorizing others with hostages, burst in and knock them out so fast they can't hurt the hostages. Building on fire, run in, pull everyone out, then punch the sky to get some rainfall so the fire wouldn't spread. Tsunami, run across the water to the wave and punch it every foot or so until the wave was two separate ones with a Japan-sized gap.

Even the battle against All for One, he didn't try for most of the fight, his wound had come in the middle of the final punch. Now it wasn't just effort to keep up his All-Might persona, but also a risk to the continued existence of All-Might. So he limited himself, Three hours, enough to make a difference and keep from disappearing, not enough to push his limits and force himself into retirement.

He could go longer, but if he did he'd cripple his ability to go as long as he can now, and if he did that than All-Might would be less of a threat to villains and they'd start popping out of the woodwork. He couldn't allow that, not on his watch. The Sludge villain from that day was a perfect example however that it wasn't enough, he might not be losing time but he was losing strength and speed. The villain had been able to outpace him and get into the sewers, where he outpaced him even further, in his prime the villain wouldn't have made it off the street he snatched that purse on in the first place.

Then he meets Izuku by saving her from the villain and bottling said villain up. She'd thanked him with a look on her face so cheerful he almost forgot she'd nearly died because he was getting too slow. Then she looked like she had something urgent to say, a question for him, but he could feel his wound throbbing, he needed to release his powered up state and return his true form. He pretended to ignore her and jumped only for the girl to grab his leg.

She ended up seeing his true form but she didn't laugh or try to use it. She just stood there waiting for his answer to her question, could she become a hero. She looked at him with hope and apprehension. For the first time in a long time, right in front of him was an example of why he'd become a hero, a bright light that only wanted to make the world a better place. But she was quirkless, unable to defend herself let alone others, Hero society would tear her apart, snuff out the light in her heart and fill it with hate just like it did Chizome.

He told her she couldn't be a hero, then listed off other professions where she could still do a lot of good. He'd leafed through her journal, burnt as it was, and the information in it was quite amazing for someone her age. With the right schooling she'd be a powerful asset to any company or agency, and on the police force, she could reform them into a power just as capable as Hero agencies.

Then he realized his pants had been baggy on him, but too tight on All-Might. The pockets he'd shoved the villain into must have been squeezed the bottles back out when he tensed to leap, they then fell during flight and now he couldn't feel them. Upon this realization something exploded, he didn't bother to look at the girl, instead, he moved to chase the villain again without thinking, only stopping to reiterate what he said.

If only he'd looked back at her, saw her face, maybe he could have been more comforting. He could have gotten her into contact with someone who could show her that nurses and police were heroes in their own right, if not by name. Maybe he could have stopped her from making the decision to jump.

He knew from Naomasa that the girl was technically still alive, working with Gunhead as her monitor and proving that she was still very much an example of what people should aspire to be. But it still hurt more than anything to know he'd driven her to such a dark place. He needed to get his old attitude back, to go back to who he used to be, that hope-filled hero that truly believed.

He consulted Sir Nighteye on it after meeting with the sidekick his former protege thought would be perfect to receive One for All, a hero student named Lemillion, real name Mirio. The boy had been quite exceptional and Sir Nighteye, as always, was not wrong about him, he was showing All-Might each and every day that he was a worthy successor. Sir Nighteye had recommended he do some community service, take a moment to do something other than run around as All-Might and instead do some good as himself, as Toshinori.

Mirio, who had been listening in, had burst in agreeing with the idea, so Toshinori decided to give it a shot on the condition Mirio join him. He wanted to see how the boy interacted with others and take the time to speak with him in a more personal setting, not an interview. Mirio had agreed to it and they looked for places near Toshinoris home that could use someone coming in and just helping out.

Dagobah Municipal Beach was what they found.

"So, if anyone asks... what's your background?" Mirio said as they pulled into the beaches parking lot. The two of them got out of the car and began to make their way to where the trash was supposed to be. "Keep stuff straight?"  
"Usually I just say I'm All-Mights' secretary, so we'll keep that, say I'm doing community service because I got tired of doing paperwork and wanted to do a bit of good for the city the way my boss does," Toshinori said, the garbage pile was pretty big and he wasn't sure he'd ever seen such a varied mess.  
"What do you think Izuku, how much more can we add to the pallet?"  
"Oh, is someone already here?" Mirio said, walking up to the pile as part of it moved slightly as if someone was trying to move it and failed. Toshinori, on the other hand, was frozen. Izuku, was it the same Izuku that he'd unintentionally convinced to commit suicide, the bright light he'd snuffed out only for it to reignite himself in a way he wished he could manage.  
"I think we could probably get that refrigerator too, after that any more and we'd need a third person to pull it."  
That voice rang through Toshinoris mind, it was the same Izuku. He couldn't forget the voice of that hopeful soul after hearing what happened to her, what he caused.  
"Hi, can I help?" Mirio said as he left Toshinori's field of vision  
"Stranger danger!"  
"Die!"  
He watched as an explosion ripped through the air right where Mirio was probably standing and proceeded to rush over. Toshinori turned the corner to see Izuku and a blonde boy who was slightly familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it. Mirio, however, was behind a vending machine, laughing in relief that he'd managed to send himself behind something after he'd used his quirk to avoid the explosion, he didn't want to flash two kids by accident. "M-Mr. Yagi, could you toss my clothes over here... if they survived..."  
Toshinori nodded and watched as Izukus face went from terrified of Mirio to pure joy at seeing him, why was she happy to see him after what he did? "Hey, sorry about him, I'm Toshinori, All-Might's secretary and that's Mirio, one of UA's third-year students he's taken an interest in." He said and watched as Izuku went from cheerful to confused, god he hoped she didn't call him out on his lie. "I decided to take a break on my paperwork and come do some good for the town, and Mirio decided to join me."  
The blonde kid scoffed and looked to the side, Toshinori followed his eyes to see a wooden pallet with some rope tied to it, loaded with the worst looking trash in the area around it. "Whatever, Izuku, come help me with this refrigerator." He said, and the girl nodded and followed after him while he found Mirios clothes, with some slight burns, and brought them over to the man. "This just got complicated."  
"Oh, I think it's great, with their help we're sure to clean this place up, and the green haired girl seems innocent enough, little sickly though?" Mirio said as he got dress and came back out from behind the vending machine, Toshinori noted the beat up mattress attached to the front. "Or maybe she's just naturally pale?"  
"It's her quirk, she's Izuku, the one I hurt," Toshinori said, and Mirio gapped and looked at her again, before grinning at Toshinori like he'd just won the lottery. "Why are you looking at me like that?"  
Toshinori suddenly found Mirio wrapping his arms around his shoulder, Mirios other arm gesturing to the two kids who were working together to lift a refrigerator onto the pallet. "Don't you see, this is completely perfect, you need to get your light back and you even said she was a perfect example of the sort of light people should aspire to have!" Mirio said, then was in front of Toshinori, hands on his shoulders and staring him in the eyes. "You can get to know her, be reminded of the light that made you a hero and at the same time make up for what you did by helping her become a hero too, don't you see it, it's destiny that put us all here at this exact moment!"  
Toshinori blinked at Mirio's excitement, and he continued. "That she didn't call you out proves it, she still thinks you're a hero despite what you said. She could have ruined you when you came over by calling you out and telling her friend what you did, but she didn't, she still idolizes you!" Mirio said, this time behind Toshinori, hands still on his shoulders, pointing him at Izuku. "Think about it, you're her greatest hero, you hurt her but only because you were hurt too, now you're both here on the road to recovery. She has the heart of a hero but people have always hidden the path from her, you know the path but have lost your heart. Together she can help you find your heart and you can lead her down the path!"  
Toshinori understood what Mirio was saying, it made sense for the most part. Granted she had Gunhead to take her down the path of a hero so she didn't really need him. But he knew this year's entrance exam, he could leave her ideas to take off with on her own.  
This... could work.  
"Where do we begin?"  
Mirio looked like the cat that caught the canary before walking over to the kids "Hey, how about we work together to clean this dump up?" Mirio said, with Toshinori following behind him. He kept his eyes off Izuku, looking at her was difficult, but he took a deep breath to calm his nerves and steel himself. He could do this. "My name's Mirio Togata, and this is Toshinori Yagi."  
The blonde kid didn't seem to like the idea of it, but looked thoughtful as well, while Izuku was already running over to a whiteboard. Compared to another whiteboard he saw in the pile they'd placed on the pallet it had been cleaned recently, and they'd used a black marker to write up some sort of plan. "Damn it, fine but don't just start throwing everything away, we're using some of this stuff to train with!" The blonde kid said, he looked conflicted about it. "I'm Katsuki, she's Izuku, hurt or mess with her and I swear to god they won't find your body because I'll have blasted it into nothing!"  
Mirio laughed the threat off and helped the boy continue moving the refrigerator to the pallet while Izuku dragged the whiteboard to Toshinori. He could smell a hint of bleach, they must have sterilized the whiteboard for some reason, better safe than sorry he supposed. Looking at the whiteboard he realized why there was a mattress attached to a vending machine now, they were turning the dump into a makeshift gym to prepare for UA. He looked over the plans as Izuku explained them.  
"With my quirk, my body will recover from workouts and damage at a high pace, so long as I give it the materials to work with, so we need stuff that can push our limits." She said, then pointed at what looked like a barbell but rather than disk-shaped weights it was a pair of leather jackets wrapped around some rectangular boxes. "We made that with safes, safes are probably the heaviest thing we'll find here so we want lots of those, and rebar, we have enough jackets for grips."  
Toshinori nodded. "And this?"  
"Obstacle course, Kacchan can fly and maneuver midflight with his explosions, and I use my quirk to get around pretty quickly too." She said, then pointed at a pile of trash with some rather nice looking pieces, probably not broken as much as people got the wrong kind. "So we're going to make a course to race through, so we can get as good at it as possible, doesn't matter if you're strong if you can't get where the trouble is."  
He had to agree with that, though remembering what Naomasa said about her quirk and seeing how she was planning to set up the obstacle course... she planned on making dismemberment a weapon. If he had a stomach he was sure he'd feel the need to vomit but it wasn't a bad plan, they just needed to find the materials.  
"So, each day we train with the weights until Kacchan gets tired."  
"What about you?" He said, wondering why the limit for the day was attached to the boy, maybe it was for his feelings. In that case, he could come up with a plan to help her hit her limit at around the same time.  
"I don't get tired, and I recover too fast to need rest days." She said, looking up at him. Then she looked confused for a moment. "You didn't know?"  
Toshinori shook his head, that was... quite a useful quirk, actually, if it made training that easy she could build up a lot of power. Toshinori's eyes widened as a thought crossed his mind, what if she had One for All. She'd be able to stockpile power at an absurd rate and her ability to recover would help her body adjust to the level of strength his quirk would give her. She had the heart he had been missing since his injury...  
Mirio, however, was also a good choice, even as he was he had immense power and was already coming up to his physical peak, as he had been when he inherited One for All. The thought of his powers, augmented with One for Alls physical strength left little to be desired, and much like Izuku Mirio had the heart and spirit of a true hero. This was a dilemma, he couldn't give it to them both but they both had the potential to go beyond anything he'd ever managed.  
He'd have to wait for now, watch them both at work and make a decision from there. Izuku grinned up at him, her joy at his presence confused him but he wouldn't ask yet. There was work to be done. "Alright, lets see how much we can load on the pallet." He said as they walked over to where Mirio and Katsuki were just finishing loading the refrigerator onto the pallet. "I'm a bit on the weak side, unfortunately, so I don't know how much help I'll be at this stage."  
"Kacchan says it's important to have a spotter when moving heavy stuff, you could do that?" She said. "Usually Kacchan and I take turns doing that, if you did that we could both focus on moving stuff and maybe get more loads done!"  
He nodded and she ran off to the junk pile, grabbing a metal shelving unit three times her height as wide as she was tall for the pallet.  
He could do this... he could help her.  
"You two are pretty amazing, I never thought to do stuff like this when I was training for U.A.," Mirio said as he ran over to help Izuku with the shelving unit. He was grinning from ear to ear. "It's a workout and a public service at the same time, I'm so going to ask my homeroom teacher why we don't do stuff like this."  
Izuku laughed a bit sheepishly, she hadn't actually thought about the public service part, she just knew people didn't come often so she wouldn't bother anyone using her quirk openly here. Katsuki was the one that recommended they remove the useless junk so they could find the still good stuff for the obstacle course. She felt a bit happier realizing the good they were doing though. "So, what's your quirk, I call mine Patchwork Zombie." She said as they started to lift the shelf high so they could fit it over a few appliances and use them to keep the shelf from sliding off.  
"It's called Permeation, it lets me pass through anything, though I can't stop myself from falling through the ground," Mirio said as they lowered the shelf, getting it caught between two dryers. He rubbed the back of his neck as they walked over to Katsuki to help pull the next thing out of the main junk pile. "It took a lot of practice to learn how to use it effectively, and to only affect certain parts of my body."  
Izuku listened carefully, her eyes lighting up as he explained his quirk. Mirio had to say it was nice to get that reaction, most people in his first year had laughed, calling his quirk speed stripping until he figured out how to use his quirk to maximum effect. "You said your quirk is called Patchwork Zombie, kind of a neat name, what's it do?" He said, he noticed some stitches on her head and figured it had something to do with them. She was also pretty pale and had blue lips, so it was probably a mutant type quirk.  
"My muscles stitch me back together when I get hurt, like when I cut off my hand, muscles shoot out of my arm and reattach it." She said as they got to Katsuki, he'd found a big piece of sheet metal for the obstacle course but it was underneath a bunch of different stuff. "I can throw it at things I want to grab but are too far away or at ledges and heavy objects like a grappling hook!"w  
Mirio had to admit, that was a little terrifying to think about, and she said it so casually he wasn't sure what to make of it. Then a lesson for his first time interning at Sir Nighteyes agency came to mind. He explained some villains only went bad because of badly handled Quirk Instability. Her quirk must be why she doesn't care, it wired her to not care so she wouldn't traumatize herself using her own abilities. "That explains the patchwork part, why zombie though?"  
"It was dormant until I jumped off a building."  
That made Mirio recoil, sure, All-Might had mentioned it when talking with Sir Nighteye but to hear her say it like she was happy she'd jumped. He noticed Katsuki was gripping extra tight on the junk he was trying to tug from the pile, he blamed himself for part of what happened. Mirio's eyes gleamed as he looked between the two of them, causing Izuku to stare at him in confusion. "Is something wrong?" She said, and Mirio laughed before shaking his head.  
"No, just a bit surprised, you seem pretty cheerful and he's a bit more aggressive," Mirio said, inciting a growl from Katsuki, it was like looking at a Caucasian shepherd guarding a Birman. He could even see Izuku carrying around a kitten with Katsuki teaching the dog if anything comes close to her, it is to growl as loudly as possible, teeth at full bare. "Do you get along well or just working together for UA?"  
He figured they were friends given Katsukis reaction to him wanting to help, but he wanted to see a bit more first. As he expected she nodded with a bright smile. "Kacchan and I have been friends since we were kids, our apartments are right next to each other!" She said as she grabbed onto the same piece of junk as Katsuki. Mirio looked at her arms and his eyes widened slightly, then looked at his own arm. He looked between their arms a few times before feeling that minor confidence boost from her interest in his quirk poof away. Sure his arms were bigger but hers were a lot more defined. If she only recently got her quirk how was she that strong?  
"You could sharpen swords on those," Mirio said, feeling a bit dazed and somewhat lazy in comparison to how hard she must be working. Izuku turned cherry red and Katsuki burst out laughing, having to let go of the sheet metal he was trying get. Mirio looked between the two of them in confusion before chuckling. "I said that out loud didn't I?"  
"Yes, you did!" Katsuki said as he bent forward laughing, propping his left hand against a nearby fridge, his other arm over his stomach. Mirio turned to Izuku and bowed his head in apology, which she waved off while looking away. Katsuki eventually calmed down and the three of them tugged on the piece of sheet metal together, Izuku took a look at the piece and her eyes twinkled with ideas. Seeing that look in her eyes Mirio let go. Apparently, the right move as Katsuki did the same thing while she dragged it over to the pile of good trash. She lifted it up and set it on the rest of the sheet metal before running to the dry erase board. "So, why are you two really here?"  
Mirio looked at Katsuki with a raised eyebrow, and Katsuki scoffed. "What, this place has been a dump for years on end, and now when two UA hopefuls arrive, one recently getting a permanent monitor, a secretary from the number one hero and someone he's interested in appears," Katsuki said, turning towards Mirio, his hands at his side but palms facing forward, Mirio guessed from the glimpse he got of the boys' quirk before that was equal to him baring his teeth. Mirio hadn't known about the monitor bit, but if she committed suicide he could see why she might be on that list. "I don't fucking buy it, so why are you two really here, Izuku might trust anything but Izuku sees the good in everything that happens even when she really shouldn't."  
Mirio sighed and shook his head. "We really did come here to do some community service, that guy over there." He said, pointing at Toshinori as he watched Izuku. "Had a pretty rough time recently, works for a hero agency but is getting disillusioned, All-Might went to the agency I'm interning at, Sir Nighteyes, and he said to do some community service. Do a bit of good yourself so you can feel that feeling of helping someone directly not just through a hero. I came along to help since he didn't want to be alone."  
Katsuki wasn't convinced, but he couldn't exactly refute the excuse, plus Izuku was heading back and he didn't want to cause a fight in front of her. He put his hands in his pockets. "Whatever, hey, let's get this to the junk drop off, we're going to be late." He said as Izuku ran up. The three of them grabbed the rope and started pulling the pallet. At first, it was difficult as the wheels didn't help as much in the sand but once they got to the sidewalk it was fairly easy, Toshinori joining in from behind by putting his hands on one of the pieces of junk and pushing.

* * *

Gunhead bowed his head in thanks as Inko poured him a cup of tea, his mask on the table next to him. It wasn't time for a check-in, but with what he had planned for the next one he felt speaking with Izuku's mother was needed. "Thank you, and I apologize for arriving unannounced." He said, and Inko shook her head, waving it off. She sat down across from him and poured herself a cup of tea. She took a sip and waited for him to speak, he nodded and pulled a small file from his vest. "I wanted your permission for what I had in mind with the next monitoring, I was thinking of taking her to a quirk assessment clinic."

Inko looked apprehensive once he finished speaking. "How exactly would they assess a quirk like hers, I'm not sending her to a butcher. She's too relaxed about hurting herself now, she doesn't need it to something she does whenever she wants to find out something new about herself." She said, and Gunhead admitted even that reaction, things were going a bit better than he expected. After she'd been misdiagnosed in the first place he'd thought he'd have to fight about how this clinic wasn't complete bogus. He slid the file over to her to look over, and she opened it up.

"I don't want her to get hurt either, believe me. She's a good kid with perhaps the best heart I've seen in a long time." He said as she looked over the files. The clinic he'd chosen was a stand alone practice, no heroes involved scouting for certain quirks and none of the employees had strange halfassedly explained increases in wealth. He sipped the tea in front of him while she read the file. It was good tea, he needed to start coming up with excuses to come here, maybe set up a patrol... probably would be too obvious. Her eyes flicked up to him, and he took it as a sign to present case. "Quirk assessment clinics are different from a quirk diagnosis program, rather than look over traits to see what her quirk might be, they would be putting her through a set of tests over the course of a few days."

"Day one would be an extreme workout, they'd test how long she'd be able to do basic exercises, speed run, endurance run, work every possible muscle with breaks for meals. The meals would be tailored to hit a wide palate as well as diverse in what nutrients they give to see what her quirk has her prioritize subconsciously." He said, it was a bit rehearsed but not a script. He figured a script would get him in trouble with Inko, she seemed the sort to put her foot down and with what happened to her daughter she wouldn't hesitate. He respected it, she was a proper parent, better than some he could name. "Day two would be looking over how quickly her body recovers, how efficiently it uses what she's eaten, depending on her recovery rate they might check for a regenerative effect, sometimes this step is skipped on the wishes of the tester, they'd expose the back of her arm to a cut, a burn, and blunt force then watch under a slow motion camera and microscope so they can see how her body regenerates."

He gave Inko a moment to process what he'd said so far, once she nodded he kept going. "The Third day is when they would start troubleshooting her quirk, coming up with ways to use it that might not be the way the work is directly used, for example her friend Katsuki can create explosions with his palm sweat, on day three they'd test his ability to explode his sweat without touching it, see how he could maneuver or fly, see if it could be used to launch objects similar to a gun or cannon, and how big and how small his explosions could be."

"They'd give her an idea of how to use her abilities to be a hero." Inko said, and nodded. "Alright, but I'm coming along, I want to see the people doing this before I leave her in their care."

Gunhead nodded. "Fair enough, I'll be by on Friday to take you both to the clinic." He said, glad this had worked out, with a proper exam he could make sure she was a shoe-in for UA, possibly even get her in by recommendation. He'd never seen a more driven kid before, and he wanted to see it bloom, even if he was certain she wouldn't be his sidekick for long, if at all. He definitely planned on picking her up right out of UA and, if he got any internships, she'd definitely be his first pick, she was fun to be around and a consistent training regiment would only help her out.

After that they made small talk, and soon it came time for Inko to start focusing on making dinner. She invited him to stay but he shook his head, finished his tea, and put his mask back on. "Not today, I think I'm going to take a look at the beach she's been working out at, see if I can find out what sort of stuff they're doing." He said as he headed to the door. "In case the clinic asks what she usually does as a workout."

He headed out and saw Izuku down the street, as well as two other blondes he didn't recognize. He tapped his mask and the left lens in the mask zoomed in, Katsuki was right behind them, his palms facing forward in preparation to attack. Gunhead closed the door to the apartment and reset his lens before pulling out his cell. He pulled up his patrol app and found which patrols were active, picking out two in the area that could easily take the detour.

 **Gunhead : Two possible recruiters making a move on Izuku, intercepting, take positions in front of the complex, triangle formation, keep it quiet.**

He put away his cell after sending out the text and then slid down the stairway railing to get to ground as soon as possible. He let a clip of bullets form in his hands, .40 caliber hollow point rounds, and clenched his hands to make sure they were ready to fly at a moments notice. He made his way to Izuku and Katsuki. "Hey, there you are, I was afraid I'd miss you Little Izuku!" He said loudly, her head spun from the muscular blonde to him and filled with excitement. She broke into a run and he squatted down, arms outstretched to catch her. As predicted she jumped and he pulled her into a quick hug, spinning her around before putting her back down. "I don't think I've met these two, are they friends of yours?"

Izuku started nodding and Katsuki pushed past the two, he was relaxed now but still looked annoyed. Gunhead nodded to him as he came over, holding his hand out for Katsuki to shake, which he did. "We met them at the beach, they showed up after the two of us finished loading up the pallet with trash. The skinny one says his names Toshinori, he's All-Mights secretary, the big one says he's Mirio, a student at UA." Katsuki said before letting go of Gunheads hand. Two things that were perfect to attract Izuku and last he worked with All-Might he was pretty sure the man didn't have a secretary, not since Sir Nighteye set up his own agency. He nodded and patted Katsukis shoulder while ruffling Izuku's hair.

"Why don't you two get home, when I left it looked like your mother was making Katsudon Izuku, and I'm pretty sure I smelt something spicy on the way out Katsuki."

The two grinned at each other before running towards the complex while he walked towards Toshinori and Mirio. "So... you've met Izuku, only fair you met the hero sponsoring her to be your junior, I'm The Battle Hero, Gunhead." He said once Izuku was out of earshot, his usually playful and kind tone stowed away. He saw something shine from one of the alleyways, then twice more, his backup is in place. "So, how is All-Might doing, he didn't mention a secretary last time we met."

Mirio looked at Toshinori, who sighed as he rubbed his temples, he didn't like his secret getting out but he didn't another option, plus he might be able to skirt around the truth a bit. "Can we speak somewhere without prying eyes, I can explain." Toshinori said, and Gunhead made a show of looking around. He saw another shine from the top of a building, they'd have sightlines on the alleyway his other sidekick was in. "Head to the alley over there, should be good enough."

Toshinori nodded and Mirio pouted, maybe this hadn't been so perfect. The three of them headed into the alleyway and Toshinori held his hands up while Gunhead moved to the side of the alley, making sure both his guys had clear shots. "Please don't jump and attack, right now I'm in my civilian form so I don't attract attention." He said before flipping the switch on One for All, Gunheads eyes widened and he tapped a spot on his mask to activate his radio comm. He heard his boys freaking out, and sighed, either they had a good illusionist or this was actually All-Might. "My apologizes for lying to your proteges, however I did have my reasons for being on that beach and Ms. Midoriya's attitude was quite inspiring, I thought I'd keep an eye on her."

"Of course she manages to get the eye of the number one hero." Gunhead said while shaking his head, wishing he could rub his temples but his mask was in the way. His sidekicks were quieting down, he couldn't blame them for breaking silence on this one. All-Might left his powered form and Mirio looked between the two of them. "So, you're actually with UA I take it?"

Mirio nodded, realizing this might be a lot more complicated than he was prepared for and decided to defer to the veteran heroes. "I am, Hero name Lemillion, I'm interning with Sir Nighteye, he thinks I might make a good sidekick for All-Might." Mirio said, leaving out the part that All-Might can pass his powers down. "He decided to give me a trial run."

Gunhead sighed through his nose, on one hand All-Might taking an interest in Izuku was definitely a good sign... on the other, something wasn't right, he wasn't sure what but something was missing. Why suddenly feel like doing community service, he'd stopped that sort of work about five years ago, and why Dagobah Beach? Gunhead scoffed. "Alright, sorry about that, and you've got the wrong idea, I'm Izuku's monitor, I thought you might be recruiters." He said, getting a wince out of the both of them as he leaned against the alley wall. He gestured his left hand towards them, while he had some power as her monitor he wasn't able to tell other heroes they couldn't be near her. "You can keep interacting with her I guess, Katsuki might be a bit less likely to blast your heads off next time he sees you since I'm not running you in... that said..."

He clenched his left hand into a fist and all four knuckles fired, flying between their heads and cracking the alley wall behind them. "You hurt her and it won't matter if you're The Number One, she's a damn good person and will be the hero every hero should live up to." He said, then made his way out of the alleyway. Did he just threaten All-Might... never thought he'd do that. Still, if All-Might is getting interested he definitely needed to see what she was doing at that beach. He could probably spare a few fresh rookies to keep an eye on her training regiment, a workout that impresses All-Might should be good for his sidekicks.

Mirio sighed in relief as he realized they weren't getting into a fight with a pro-hero like Gunhead. Toshinori patted his shoulder and sighed. "Good improv." He said as the two of them came out of the alleyway and headed back to the beach to get Toshinori's car. Gunhead was good at keeping quiet but his methods meant they probably had at least two other people who saw that, hopefully Gunhead told them to keep quiet.

Izuku hugged her mother as she put two bowls of Katsudon in front of her. Inko hugged her back before heading back into the kitchen to get her own bowl. Once they both had their food at the table they clasped their hands and bowed their heads. "Itadakimasu!"

Katsuki grinned like a madman as he sat down with his mother and father, each of them had a bowl of curry in front of them. Much like the Midoriyas they clasps their hands and bowed their heads. "Itadakimasu!"

Toshinori and Mirio climbed into the car, Toshinori in the drivers seat as Mirio relaxed in the passenger seat, pulling out his cell and opening the group chat with Nejire and Tamaki. That Izuku girl had both Gunhead and All-Might interested in her training, he needed an edge if he wanted to keep up, who better than the current best in UA?

 **Sir Tintin : Hey, I found a kid, he's a UA Hopeful and super protective of his childhood friend, we should mentor him.**

 **Do the Twist : Mirio tell me you didn't kidnap a kid.**

 **Nom : Nejire this is Mirio we're talking about, don't ask him to lie he doesn't know how.**

 **Sir Tintin : So little faith... I didn't kidnap a kid this time, I promise.**

While he texted his friends Toshinori drove towards Sir Nighteye's agency to drop him off. He needed to contact some people for advice, Mirio and Izuku would both make good options for One for All.

Mirio's skill and power were already amongst the best in UA, he had the right heart, spirit, and with Sir Nighteye's experience the right teacher, however Mirio's skill and power while a plus were trained attributes, training that One for All could completely invalidate and set the boy back years. Nana, bless her soul, had warned him of that when she first explained the process of giving and receiving the quirk, saying it had taken her over a year to figure out how to control the output accurately, and then even longer to freely use it's full power. Meanwhile various, highly dangerous elements were stirring, such as the Yakuza group that Sir Nighteye was investigating, as well as solo acts like Muscular and The Hero Killer.

Izuku on the other hand had the heart and soul of a hero just like Mirio, was being monitored and trained by Gunhead, a hero who earned his agency not just by strength of quirk but by his tactical skill and ability to teach others that skill. she closer to the age he was when he received the quirk from Nana and her quirk from what he understood could repair damage done to her, making learning how to use One for All less risky. But how could he ask her to be his successor after what he's done, first he drives her to her death and then when her quirk activates he goes up and tells her to stop training with it and focus on his quirk, that she still isn't good enough? Not to mention the fact she was monitored would mean if he did give her his quirk, that would be recorded and sent to the station. The secret would be out in no time flat.

He sighed as he pulled up the Sir Nighteye's agency, Mirio climbing out and waving goodbye as he headed in to give his report for the day. He was a good kid, Toshinori could admit to that much, probably better than he had been at that age. He made his way back home, he had to do some research and he had the feeling that none of the people he wanted the input of would get a bit annoyed at him if he called this late.

Sir Nighteye looked out of the window from his office, watching as his former mentor drove away. Soon Mirio would be walking in, he'd seen this scene when he'd check on whether or not Mirio would actually be able to help Toshinori. He wasn't sure if Toshinori simply forgot about his quirk or simply didn't care but it was too easy look into the mans future, all he had to do was hold his hand out for a handshake and the man took it without hesitation. Mirio knocked on the door twice, waiting the space of a breath, and let himself in. "He didn't give me One for All but I think we found just what he needed to get his spirit back!" Mirio said, coming up to Sir Nighteyes desk, sitting down in the chair in front of it. Sir Nighteye nodded and turned around, sitting in the seat in front of him. "We met up with a girl named Izuku and her friend Katsuki when we went to Dagobah Beach, turns out they were using the beach trash to make workout equipment and any trash that wasn't part of their planned out equipment they were taking to one of those dumping stations. You know, the ones set up for people to dump their trash legally without having to head all the way out to the actual dump outside of city limits?"

Sir Nighteye nodded, he knew about them. He sat down at his desk and mulled over what Mirio said and the girls name stuck out. "Izuku, as in the girl who he hurt, they have the same name?" He said, he hadn't gone too deep into it, just looking far enough to see if Mirio himself stuck out as a good successor. For the most part it was going well but there was something preventing him from passing it on. Sir Nighteye had gone against seeing way because it would give him something work out, a brain teaser to keep himself from getting too dependent on his quirk.

"No, the very same Izuku, green hair and cheerful attitude." Mirio said, and Sir Nighteye's eyes widened, Mirio gave himself a pat on the back, he didn't manage to make his boss do that often. He gave Sir Nighteye a moment to process what he'd said and waited for his cue to continue. Sir Nighteye brought his hand up to his chin and thought about what his intern just told him, was this the factor that was keeping Toshinori from giving Mirio One for All, possibly. He lowered his hand and refocused on Mirio, who took it as his cue. "So, turns out her quirk is a dormant mutant type, it needed a certain condition to activate, she had to... well... die, so she could come back, she calls it Patchwork Zombie. I thought she was kidding about the zombie part but then she grabbed my hand and put it against her wrist where her radial pulse should be, should be cause it wasn't there."

Sir Nighteye rubbed his temples, so she truly had a quirk that made her undead, he wondered if perhaps it was a hybrid quirk. A mutation that set off a constant emitter pulse through her body, allowing it to function without reactivating the internal organs. He blinked, she could be a powerful hero or terrible villain if death wasn't a threat, she needed to be monitor, she must be, especially if she had an attempted suicide on record. "Who's her monitor?" He said, pulling open a drawer to get a pad of paper, he needed to map this out... where was his pen... "Talk me through what happened... where is it..."

Mirio looked a bit surprised, and reached up to Sir Nighteyes pen, which was propped behind his ear. The man blinked at it and then nodded and took it from his hand. "So, when we got to the beach I asked All-Might what I should say he is if I'm asked, since he wasn't in his All-Might form. He said to pretend he's his own secretary, coming out to do some good deeds because he wants to do some good, just All-Might." Mirio said, and Sir Nighteye made a mental note to give the man a list of aliases and backstories that actually worked, surely the man realized him not having a secretary made that story easy to see through in the hero community. He began to write what he was hearing, mouthing the words as he heard them, sealing the information in his head.

"That's when we heard someone calling out to an Izuku about whether or not they could put more to a pallet, and Izuku saying they could probably add a refrigerator to it. I then went to see if I could help but accidentally startled them." Mirio said, then looked a bit embarrassed. "Izuku's mother must have taught her well because she screamed 'Stranger Danger' and her friend, Katsuki, threw his hands to together with palms facing me and screamed 'Die' before unleashing his quirk, which is the ability to create explosions. I had to use my quirk to dodge and put myself behind a broken vending machine they'd picked out so I wouldn't flash them and make things worse."

As Mirio continued Sir Nighteye realized that Mirio had taken the chance to save Toshinori's spirit over trying to stay close to the man and prove himself. Probably for the best, a hero doesn't focus on themselves and he was sure Toshinori would see it too, but it also brought in a problem, it gave Izuku a chance to get close to Toshinori. "Do you think he might be considering Izuku as a successor?" Sir Nighteye said, interrupting Mirio as he started to stumble over his sentences, must be getting to an embarrassing part. "And what exactly did you do?"

"In reverse order, I saw her arms, and said 'you can sharpen swords on those' when I meant to just think it." He said, getting an amused snort from Sir Nighteye. "And... maybe, he seemed to feel like he owed her something to make up for what he'd done to her, wanted to help her. At the same time he wasn't sure how to go about it, I think he doesn't want to insult her saying she needs it to be a hero?"

Sir Nighteye closed his eyes in thought, that was it, Mirio was perfect but if he remembered Toshinori's recounting of how he got his quirk Toshinori always admitted that he'd been afraid he wouldn't be able to use One for All in time because it took is predecessor time to figure the quirk out. He knew One for All would put Mirio back a bit but the result would be worth it. But now he had an untrained, just as young as he was girl with, possibly, as much heart as Mirio, and a regenerative quirk to help her out, but he felt guilty and wasn't sure if it would be right after what he'd done.

To be fair, until he met Izuku, he wouldn't know either, and his best bet at meeting her was through Mirio.

"Keep an eye on her, and keep doing what you're doing with Toshinori. One for All needs a successor, we need to make sure whoever it is, they're perfect."


	5. What makes a Zombie?

_Circus of Horrors Arc, Part 1 : What makes a Zombie?_

* * *

Izuku sat up in her bed and yawned, stretching her arms as she did. She didn't know she'd needed sleep at first but after she passed out at the end of her first week, while her body didn't tire her mind did. She slid her legs over the side of her bed and put on her slippers, she could hear her mother showering so she decided to eat first. She opened her bedroom door and made her way to the kitchenette.

It was Friday, her second monitor check-up of the week, which meant she was going to train with Gunhead today. The thought put a smile on her face, he was always happy, acted cute around people, and he showed her more than just how to use the strength and speed she was building up between her runs to the beach and working on the junk pile. Though he did make it clear she wasn't to just wait for her sparring partners to stab her and then disarm them.

She opened the refrigerator and pulled out two plastic cups of greek yogurt, four apricots, and a slab of bacon. Putting the yogurt and apricots on the counter went under the counter and grabbed both a cutting board and a frying pan. She put the frying pan on the stove and turned it on, as it heated up she pulled out a pair of knives, setting one aside before using the other to open the packaging around the bacon slab and slice ten strips of bacon from it.

She rewrapped the slab and put it back in the fridge before placing the strips on the pan and pushing the cutting board into the sink.

She went to the cupboard and pulled out a plate, then a fork from the drawer beneath it. She placed the plate and next to the stove, put a paper towel on it, then flipped the bacon. At that point she heard the shower turn off, her mother was done and would be out soon. She took the knife she'd put aside before and cut the apricots, pulled them into halves with her hands, and used the knife to remove the pits. She put them next to the plate along with the yogurt before using the fork to lift the bacon from the pan and onto the paper towel to soak up the grease.

Her mother came out of the bathroom at that moment, dressed in a white collared shirt, a dark red buttoned sweater, and a beige skirt coming down to the middle of her shins, and slippers. Izuku smiled and got a pair of plates and forks, splitting the bacon, apricot halves, and yogurt between them before bringing them to the table. "Thank you, sweetie, are you excited for today?" Inko said as she sat down as Izuku put a plate in front of her, waiting for Izuku to sit down as well. Izuku nodded enthusiastically as she sat down with her plate. "That's good, Gunhead seems to care quite a bit about your growth as a hero."

They clapped their hands together and bowed their heads. "Itadakimasu!" They both said before they started to eat. Izuku ate rather quickly, causing Inko to frown slightly, she knew Izuku tried to be calm when she ate but her quirk seemed to take control with certain foods. She wasn't mad at Izuku, far from it, but her quirk was just... painful to her. How she formed such a quirk from fire breathing and minor telekinesis Inko didn't understand, and the trigger...

Once everything had calmed down that night, that she had such a terrifying quirk and that it had rewired her brain to such an extreme had sunk in another fact followed. Her baby, her precious Izuku had willingly killed herself, she had felt dying would be the best option before her quirk rewired her not to care. She had failed as a mother and it nearly took her child from her. Izuku wanted to be a hero and Inko would support her dreams, help drive her higher, let her know when she went too far, and be there to hold her when things went wrong offering not apologizes for failure but promises of success.

Izuku finished her plate and took it to the sink before heading back to her room to get her clothes while Inko watched her with determined eyes. She would see her little girl become Number One, just as Izuko had always dreamed. As Izuku ran with her clothes for the day into the bathroom Inko pulled out a cell, dialing the number Gunhead gave her.

It rang twice, then he picked up. "Gunhead speaking, how's your morning Mrs. Midoriya?" He said, and she smiled. It sounded like he was already on his way, by car based on background noise. "Is Izuku doing well?"

"I'm well, and Izuku is getting ready as we speak, it sounds like you're on your way here?"

"I'm about a block down the road, the weather's a bit cold... we should probably ask them to check if she feels temperatures, I don't think I've seen her wear a sweater."

Inko giggled a bit. "This coming from the man wearing a no shirt and a vest he can't close."

"... Hand of Harmony help, Mrs. Midoriya just sassed me!" He said in a fake hurt tone and she found herself blushing as she heard someone burst it laughter in the background. "You think should we blame Boombox, you know what, I'm blaming Boombox, see you soon Mrs. Midoriya."

The phone hung up and Inko put her phone down before putting her head in her hands to fight down her embarrassment. After a bit, she managed to calm down and started to finish off her breakfast. She heard the shower turn on and picked up her plate, heading to the sink to clean the dishes. Inko smiled at the lack of blood in the kitchen, at least her daughter wasn't using her quirk indoors anymore.

She hummed to herself as she started to go through the process of cleaning up from breakfast. Her life was hardly normal anymore, but her daughter was happy and getting the support she needed to follow her dreams. Inko didn't like what it took for things to change, but they were changing in a way that made her daughter happy. Now she just needed to keep her safe.

As she finished putting the dishes in the rack the doorbell rang, she wiped her hands and made her way to the door. She looked through the peephole to confirm it was Gunhead. She undid the door chain, unlocked the door, and opened the door to find there was someone with Gunhead. "Good morning Gunhead, and you are..."  
His skin was a deep tan, wearing an aikidogi with black hakama and was five foot seven inches tall. His head was shaved clean though he kept his eyebrows and eyelashes. His face was mostly smooth with the exception of a few wrinkles near his eyes, said eyes were closed and he was grinning serenely.

"I am The Patient Hero, Hand of Harmony."

"He's one of the heroes in my agency, a veteran," Gunhead said as the two slipped off their shoes and put on slippers. Inko headed over to the couch and sat down, Gunhead following suit while Hand of Harmony turned one of the dining chairs and sat in it. "Since we're heading out a bit further than my dojo I brought him along, we also have a few heroes watching over the intersections between here and the clinic."

Hand of Harmony nodded. "There's been a minor increase in criminal activity in the area, that giant Mt. Lady stole from Kamui Woods, that slime quirked man who nearly killed young Izuku's friend." He said, getting a grim nod from Gunhead. "Not to mention there's been a rash of people disappearing and reappearing, only to disappear again with someone else."

"My agency has some of our best on that one, in case it's a recruiter trying to make a path to Izuku." Gunhead said, getting a frown from Inko. When Izuku was monitored she was told criminals might try to recruit her. The Public Quirk Register might not have Izuku's quirk listed to keep people from attempting to see if they had a similarly triggered quirk, but that it wasn't there could entice villains to seek her out. "Hand of Harmony is in charge of our efforts on the case and has details on the most recent victims, so he's coming along. He also has a useful quirk if someone starts a fight trying to make a name for themselves."

"Once someone hits me, I know what they're going to do five seconds following the strike." Hand of Harmony said, bowing his head slightly. "It's not as powerful as other precognition quirks, so I supplement it with heavy martial training, something Gunhead is very skilled at providing."

Gunhead gave a thumbs up and Inko smiled, it was good to know they took her protection seriously. She relaxed and the three made small talk as they waited for Izuku to finish getting ready. Hand of Harmony was in the middle of a story about the time Gunhead had thrown him straight at a group of thugs when Izuku came out of the bathroom. She was wearing a green polyester shirt and a pair of black sports shorts that went down to her knees. Gunhead turned and waved over to her, and she smiled and waved back before noticing Hand of Harmony.

Gunhead wished he had popcorn as she sped over to the man with her hands clasped together, eyes twinkling and grin from ear to ear. "You're Pro-Hero Hand of Harmony, one of the best martial arts heroes currently active, ranked higher in close quarters combat than even super strength heroes like Southern Sun and Backhand." She said, then ran off to her room as Inko held a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from laughing while Gunhead just stared with his fingers over his mask, looking thoroughly amused.

Hand of Harmony, on the other hand, was a bit surprised that she was aware of who he was as well as his high position in the CQC rankings. Most people only were aware of the official rankings where he didn't rank very high, his quirks nature making him best suited for supporting heroes by preventing reinforcements or one on one fights. Izuku ran back in and handed him a notebook and a pen, leafing through it he noticed a large number of signatures from Gunheads agency and signed his name on a blank page. "Surprised you know about the CQC rankings."

Izuku squealed with delight as he handed the book back and Hand of Harmony couldn't help the pride rising in his chest. "I know all the sub-ranking types, CQC, Rescue, Collateral Conscious, Long Range Combat, Close Range Combat, Team, Disaster Relief, Mass Takedown, and Investigation." She said, beaming with joy. "Are you going to be teaching me close quarters combat today?"

"Not today but Gunhead, my dear friend, why haven't you introduced me to her yet. Are you hogging her to yourself, cause if so I suppose can't really blame you, she's adorable." He said, getting a bright red blush from Izuku as her mother finally broke out laughing, with Gunhead nodding jokingly.

"Of course, she's that one person you can't help but shelter from the world even though you know the world needs to meet and learn from her," Gunhead said, making Izuku cover her face in embarrassment. Gunhead decided to take pity on her at that point. "He's here because we're heading out a bit further than we usually do, and with the recent bump in crime lately I wanted a little extra protection for you and your mother."

Izuku's blush died down and she looked up, so Gunhead continued. "Your quirk came late, and it's caused some massive changes in your life, eating habits, mentality, and physical abilities. " Gunhead said and watched as Izuku calmed down and paid close attention to his words. "That's why we've decided to take you to a clinic specializing in Quirk assessment exams, they put you through a set of physical and mental tests while monitoring your body to see what exactly your quirk is capable of."

Izuku nodded and Hand of Harmony jumped into the explanation. "Once complete, if the doctors find your quirk to be of sufficient power, they will give you an exam certificate that, along with a recommendation from a hero, would get you into UA without having to take the entrance exam." He said, getting Izuku to look over at him once more. "Getting into UA by recommendation would be a guaranteed one-way ticket to heroics, and shows other pro-heroes that even before you were publicized by the Sports Festival heroes were taking notice of you."

Izuku looked between the two heroes, before looking to her mother, who smiled and nodded at her. Izuku grinned and raced for the door. "Come on let's go!" She said, getting a small laugh from all three adults in the room as they got up to follow her. Inko smiled as her daughter excitedly asked Gunhead and Hand of Harmony what sort of tests she might go through. She was so animated, so happy...

It hurt that it took dying for Izuku to be so happy every day, but Inko couldn't deny that she was happy for her daughter.

* * *

Katsuki laid back in his bed, reading over one of the many textbooks he'd gotten to study for the UA mock exam. Izuku would be with her monitor for the next few days according to his mother. She didn't say why just that Izuku would excitedly regale him with the details. He didn't doubt that, while she couldn't exactly teach him everything she learned from Gunhead due to simply not being skilled enough yet she did tell him what she'd done with the pro-hero.

He'd dropped a fist on the top of her head when she told him she'd decided to surprise the hero by letting him stab her and disarmed him from there.

She'd responded by looking up at him with a pout and teary eyes that had made for an awkward dream that night.

He heard a knock on his door and was about to let whoever was knocking it was open when it flew open, that cartoon faced blonde claiming to be from UA at the beach burst in. "Hello my Junior, It's me, Mirio, come to assist in your training to become a student of UA!" Mirio said in full hero attire, caped somehow billowing behind him, one hand on his chest just under the number 1,000,000, the other outstretched to a baffled Katsuki, though his befuddlement was quickly turning into anger. "I have brought my best friends and fellow top scoring students of UA's second year, Nejire and Tamaki with me to bring out the best in you, they're waiting outside, I came through the flo-"

"Get away from my boy!" Mitsuki said before attempting to bash the back of Mirios head with a cast iron pan. Mirio, however, had used his quirk to fall through the floor when he heard a scream behind him, causing her to hit nothing but air. "The hell... you saw him too right?"

"Unfortunately," Katsuki said, sitting up and putting his book down and looking up at the clock, it was nearly noon. He stood up from the bed and walked over to his mother, who backed out of his room to let him pass. "The asshole met Izuku and me at the beach yesterday, Gunhead caught him with us and decided to question him. I guess he must have gotten Gunheads approval... still don't like him..."

Mitsuki shook her head as her son went over to the front door and opened it. The first person he noticed was a few inches shorter than him, a bright, blue-eyed girl in a simple blue dress with three buttons at the neckline, midnight blue leggings, and a pair of black shoes. She was pale but not nearly as bad as Izuku, and her long wavy hair was a light shade of blue, it also suddenly curled at her waistline. Slung over her shoulder was a navy blue purse. Next to her was a boy a couple inches taller than him who seemed to be trying to look anywhere but at the apartment. He had messy dark hair and pointed ears, wearing a white shirt, black jacket, black pants, and black shoes.

"Hi, I'm Nejire and this is Tamaki, we-"

"Look if you all think you can help me better protect Izuku, fine, Gunhead didn't run your blonde friend in so I guess his story checks out," Katsuki said, holding a hand up and interrupting Nejire. "That said, next time that cartoon character warps into the middle of my home and busts open my door screaming one of those old comic style introductions, I'm blowing him up and coming for you two."

"... Mirio wasn't kidding, he's like an angry puppy." Nejire said, causing Katsuki to growl while Mitsuki burst into laughter, putting an arm against the wall to keep herself from falling over. She made her way to the door and put a hand on Katsukis head, pretending to scratch him and redirecting his anger. She then pointed her cast iron pan at Nejire, making her jump and look at the pan uneasily.

"Girl, I like you, why don't you two come inside and we can talk." She said, dragging Katsuki out of the way so they could come in. They both removed their shoes and Nejire pulled three pairs of slippers from her purse, slipping on a pair before handing the two larger pairs to Tamaki before walking in. Tamaki dropped his slippers and put them on, looking uncomfortable at the idea of walking into the apartment as Mirio came up behind him. Tamaki handed him the slippers and made his way inside.

Mirio moved to put on the slippers onto to have a cast iron pan suddenly appear right in front of his nose. He blinked and looked past it, seeing an angry Mitsuki and paling slightly. "Not you, you can wait here." She said, then pulled her pan back and slammed the door, leaving Mirio standing just outside of it with slippers in hand.

"... Awh..."

Mitsuki sat down on one side of the couch, Masuro on the other side, and Katsuki in the middle. Nejire and Tamaki sat across from them on a different couch, Tamaki trying very hard not to look at anyone while Nejire looked straight into Mitsuki's eyes. Katsuki was twitching, he wanted to jump across the small living room table between them and fight, but Mitsuki had a hand on his shoulder, holding him in place.

"So, you want to mentor my son, why?" Mitsuki said, her face stoic. She knew what her son, he wasn't the nicest person, years of shallow praise and having an admittedly powerful quirk had given him a lot of bad habits. She also knew he was trying to fix that, mostly through Izuku. For three students at UA to suddenly appear was fishy to her even if that Pro-hero looking over Izuku had cleared them as non-villains. "Funny comment or not, I doubt you just stumbled on him and decided to help."

Nejire nodded. "We didn't, Mirio did and got the idea of helping him out and brought us into it. Mirio said he was rather protective of someone, a girl named Izuku. He compared her to a 'green ball of sunshine and everything a hero should want to be.', and he wanted to help your son protect her." Nejire said, getting a smile from Masuro and a small laugh from Mitsuki. "The three of us didn't do great our first year in UA, and we were put down quite a bit as a result. Despite all of us being the hero course we barely made it to the second round of the Sports festival."

"After the festival was over, we stopped to look at ourselves, we were the outcasts of our year but our teacher saw potential in us. Said teacher also has a reputation for expelling people as soon as the first day if he doesn't see any potential." Nejire said, that made Katsuki stop shaking, his annoyance dying down. "We decided to team up, train together every day, spend our rest days brainstorming ideas, and then this year the three of us dominated our year in the sports festival. When Mirio saw your son interacting with his friend he also saw something like what we have and wanted to help make sure that even with Izuku having caught the eye of Pro-heroes like Gunhead..."

"He'd be able to continue walking beside her," Tamaki said, looking a bit less uncomfortable but still out of his element.

Nejire nodded and Mitsuku stared at the two before turning to Masuro, who shrugged. The girl seemed honest at the least. Katsuki, on the other hand, was thinking about what Nejire said about the teacher. No potential would mean getting expelled, and if what she said about the sports festival is true then raw power what the man was considering when he looked for potential. It made sense, he guessed, why look for power in UA students, getting accepted proved their power, the trick was how they used it and how they acted.

Katsuki was hardly uninventive with his explosions, but what if he could do more? The more he thought about it the more he realized yes, he'd probably need to put more work in. Sure he was the best in this part of town, and in his school, outside of Izuku everyone's quirks either hindered their combat or straight up just sucked. Of course his quirk and the bag of tricks he had looked good from here, his classmates could barely manage to find an effective use for their quirks let alone come up with multiple uses.

He did, in fact, need an edge.

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Katsuki said, and Nejire smiled at him.

* * *

Izuki held her arms out as a nurse and hairnet stuck sensors on her, next to her a boy with messy indigo hair and tired eyes was having sensors stuck to him by another nurse. "Hi, I'm Izuku, what's your name?"

"... Hitoshi." He said, his eyes flickering over to her. The nurses froze and looked between the two of them, making Hitoshi scoff. Did they really think he was going to mind control some random person in the middle of a clinic?

"It's nice to meet you, are you excited too?" She said, grinning from ear to ear, hopeful that she might make a new friend. The nurse placing sensors on her seemed to realize Hitoshi wasn't about to cause an issue and started placing sensors on her again. "My quirk was dormant to recently, I've only had it for a few weeks."

Hitoshi nodded, he wondered what she was blessed with for a moment, she was so ready to brag about it after all. "What is it, super strength, speed?"

"I'm a zombie!"

That made the nurses and Hitoshi freeze up, a zombie, she had to be joking. "No, really," Hitoshi said, turning his head to get a good look at the girl he was speaking with and noticed she was very pale, more than he was. She also had a set of stitches on her head, as if it had been split open once.

"No really, I'm a zombie!" Izuku said, she pouted at him as if he was bullying her for not believing her the first time. He scoffed and the nurse putting sensors on him turned his head forward, placing sensors on his face and neck. "It scared my mom, and my friend, and his family at first, but they got used to it and try to keep me from scaring other people. What's your quirk?"

"Brainwashing, when someone responds to me I can take control of them." He said, waiting for her reaction. She was cheerful, her quirk was accepted by her family and friends. He felt sad for a moment, he'd thought maybe she could understand him, but no such luck. He readied a retort for when she'd call his quirk villainous.

"That's so cool!" She said and Hitoshi waited, any moment now he'd start hearing ways he could use it for villainy. "You could convince people not to commit suicide, force villains to release hostages and turn them in, or divulge information about their operations, you're amazing!"

Hitoshi needed a moment to process what she said, that was not what he expected. She thought his quirk was cool, but she didn't list a bunch of villainous acts, she listed heroics. "Uh... yeah, I guess I could." He said, not believing his luck, he waited for part two, for the villainy he could do.

"Do you live near Dagobah Beach?" She said, and Hitoshi thought about it for a bit, then clicked his tongue. No, he didn't, he wondered why she asked. She seemed like the sort who would explain why if he was quiet long enough. "My friend and I train there, we could prepare for UA's heroics department together!"

... She hadn't even thought of villainy had she, instead, she saw someone with a strong quirk and offered to train with him... He smiled, then frowned, if she was close to Dagobah beach she wasn't close. He finds a friend and she's too far away to work with, he wondered if his quirk gave him bad luck as well. "No, I don't, too bad huh?"

"Do you have a cell phone, maybe we can call each other, encourage workout ideas and brainstorm tricks," Izuku said, she really didn't want to lose out on the chance to have another friend, and his quirk was really cool. "Oh, I know, Pro-Hero Gunhead check-in offices all around town that double as dojo's, maybe you could sign up for classes!"

The nurses stepped back and give the two a once over before giving them a thumbs up. Hitoshi stood still while Izuku took a few steps towards the door to the room they were supposed to go to. Then she turned around and noticed him staring. "Come on, let's go!" She said, and Hitoshi kept staring. She was covered in white sensor dots, her green hair tied up in a spiky bun, with green eyes shining like emeralds. She was wearing a sleeveless polyester shirt and shorts that reached her knees, and the light shining from the window in the door behind her was giving her a halo.

Hitoshi nodded and started walking, he'd gone and found an undead angel apparently. He knew how cruel the world could be when dealing with things that didn't fit the norm and she definitely didn't fit the norm. Guess he'd have to get stronger, master his quirk and the act of getting someone so pissed they have to speak. Otherwise, there'd be no-one there to keep the world from tearing her apart.

Izuku went to open the door just for Hitoshi to step in front of her and open it for her, gesturing for her to go first. She nodded in thanks and they found themselves with eight other kids. He looked around and saw a woman with bright golden eyes, inky black skin, and short red hair. She wearing a coaching outfit as well as an earpiece, standing what looked like a mirror and guessed it was a one-way mirror. There was also a number of yoga balls and barbells. Finally, on the opposite side of the room was a green door and a blue door.

"Hello everyone, my name is Kokku, we'll be doing a few routines to push you to your limits and get a good full body work out." The woman said and pulled a whistle from her pocket. "Each of you, go pick a yoga ball and line up, three meters space between you all, don't worry about the barbells when it's time to use them I'll get them."  
Izuku immediately picked out a green one, getting a bit of a chuckle from Hitoshi, she was so enthusiastic. He wasn't sure what was coming over him, maybe her friendly personality was dragging him in, he wanted to be her friend. He went and grabbed a light brown ball, the color reminded him of the stray cat he'd been giving food to recently. Soon everyone was lined up with Kokku standing before them.

"Alright, each if you will start with ten push-ups, followed by ten squats. Following that you'll be doing ten burpees, for those unaware of what that is, squat and reach for the floor, then kick your legs out, lower yourself, push up, bring legs under you, then bring yourself back up into a squat and jump up. Following that you will do ten pike roll-outs, this is done with that yoga ball you just picked out, put your legs on the ball while your hands are on the floor in a push-up position, then raise your hips into the air and bring them back down. " Kokku said, and Hitoshi paled slightly, just how much exercise were they doing, she expected them to get through this? "Finally I will bring you the barbells, you will do ten deadlifts followed by five Clean and Jerks, for a deadlift you will hold the barbell against your thighs and lower it to the ground while keeping your back straight, for the Clean and jerk you will squat and hold the barbell while it is on the ground, then lift it by standing up and bending your elbows to bring it to your chest and then you will lift it over your head before doing the entire process in reverse."

"If you cannot complete a full set please head through the green door, if you can complete a set you will be going through the blue door. If you are not tired by the end of the first set, which I have yet to see, you will do the set again with double the amount of repetitions and a barbell half again heavier, any questions?" Kokku said, and Izuku lifted her hand. "Go ahead, Ms. Broccoli."

Hitoshi decided he was so stealing that when Izuku lowered her hand. "What if your quirk prevents you from getting tired?" She said, and Hitoshi turned towards her, she can't get tired... that is so unfair, he's always tired...

"You keep going until it's not exhaustion but lack of strength that stops you, any further questions?" Kokku said, then when no-one asked anything else she held the whistle out. "And... Begin!"

She whistled and Hitoshi watched Izuku fall forward to the floor and start as he brought himself down slower. He shook his head and focused on himself, no time to stare at her... he'll get self-conscious. Meanwhile, Izuku was throwing herself into the pushups as hard as she could, pushing up hard enough for her hands to leave the ground, then she'd clap and reach back down, once her hands hit the ground and her momentum stopped she'd lower herself to the ground. On the tenth push up she pushed hard enough to lift herself back up onto her feet and started doing the squats.

Kokku, on the other hand, watched with a very aggressive grin, deciding to put Izuku's weights at a naturally high setting from the show she was giving. A couple of the other examinees had frozen up watching her go, and Kokku blew her whistle. "Keep moving, don't focus on what your fellow examinees are doing, focus on what you're doing!" She said, jolting the two back to work.

Hitoshi was just finishing his push-ups when the woman whistled, he picked himself up and started to go through the squats. He got to about three before he heard Izuku's hands hit the floor again as she started on the burpees. She said she worked out at Dagobah beach, maybe after this, he could convince his parents to take him there every other day or so, if her workout routine let her do this well... it would be worth the gas.

As he started on his burpees, Izuku was nearly done with her pike roll-outs. He also felt good for a moment as the boy next to him with dark purple hair shaped like balls on his head hit the floor and had to head out after his final burpee. At least he wasn't the first to go out. As he heard a barbell hit the ground next to Izuku he decided he'd at the very least finish a full set. He wanted to stay beside her, the one person who didn't think him a villain in the making.

As Izuku began her deadlifts, she giggled, getting Kokku to look at her. "What's so funny Ms. Broccoli?"

"I'm a zombie doing deadlifts." She said, saying each word as she lifted the barbell, the sentence getting a bark of laughter from Kokku. She had a new friend, she was learning a great workout routine, and she was going to learn her quirks potential over the next few days. She couldn't help but feel excited, nervous, happy, and maybe a bit scared, if only because she wondered how Hitoshi would react to her body's reaction to wounds.

Soon the deadlifts were done, and she noticed that out eight who had started only five were left. Kokku looked disappointed, but then shrugged and looked at Izuku, she might be her favorite examinee of the year. Sure her form a tiny bit off but not enough to get negative results, especially not from someone who didn't have to worry about stamina. Izuku dropped her barbell as she finished the Clean and Jerks and dropped to the floor for push-ups.

She was the one to keep an eye on, that was for certain.

Hitoshi was suddenly regretting his mental pledge to at least get one set completed as he did his third deadlift. When he'd heard Izuku finish her deadlifts he snuck a glance to see what a clean and jerk looked like. He was pretty sure he was going to die attempting that but at the same time, she made it look so easy. He made a note to never challenge the girl to an arm wrestling contest.

On the other side of Izuku, a boy with thick grey hair was trying to keep up with her, managing to get to his set and dropped to start his pushups as Izuku finished hers. He had thick eyebrows and his sharp teeth were grinding with the effort it was taking to attempt matching her pace. He heard the other examinees drop, unable to finish all five Clean and Jerks save for the boy with Indigo hair, who pushed himself to the last one before bringing the barbell down and nearly toppling over.

He himself was getting to his limit, getting to his tenth Push-up fell forward, gasping for air, he turned his head and the green haired girl was moving doing her second set of squats. Picking himself up he went to the blue door and sat next to the boy with indigo hair, and held a thumb up. "Name's... Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu... you?" He said before noticing hand towels on the table in front of him, grabbing one to wipe the sweat from his face

Hitoshi had already been wiping his face off and tossed the towel into the nearby basket, the effort toppling him sideways in the couch. "Hitoshi... Shinsou... nice to meet you..."

"500 Pounds, go!" Kokku said as used her quirk to lift new weights onto the barbell in Izuku's hands and she started her second set of deadlifts. Izuku noticed it was becoming difficult to lift the weight, she was getting close to her limit. Keeping that in mind she did the rest of the deadlifts and started on the clean and jerks, nearly stumbling on the last one. Kokku nodded and jerked her thumb at the blue door. Izuku nodded and made her way through the door, where both Hitoshi and the other boy who completed a set were breathing for dear life.

She walked over to the boy and held her hand out. "Hi, I'm Izuku Midoriya, what's your name?" She said, Tetsutetsu looked up at her and groaned, she didn't look remotely tired, she wasn't kidding. "Are you okay, you sound sick, you didn't overdo it did you, that could set your training back really far!"

"I'm okay, I just need to eat plenty of iron later," Tetsutetsu said before bringing his hand up to hers and shaking it. "Name's Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, next time, I'm going to win!"

Izuku tilted her head and Tetsutetsu felt the word cute pierce his mind like an arrow. "Win, what do you mean?" She said, was the workout supposed to be a competition, she should probably not mention that to Katsuki. He'd get mad that she entered a competition without him. "I thought we were just exercising?"

"Everything is a competition, if you don't work towards being the best at all... you do then you get complacent and happy with where you are... when you should work at being... better... I need some fried liver..."

"I could use a chocolate bar..." Hitoshi said, then saw Izuku was in the room. "Oh... hey Izuku... you finished?"

Izuku nodded, suddenly wishing she had some pork when a group of people came out with various serving platters and pitchers. They revealed various vegetables, fruit, assorted juices, and water, a whole pig, a few stacks of steaks, and a roast chicken, before placing them all on a table in the center of the room a good three meters away from them. The three stared at the food in before Izuku practically flew across the room, grabbing one of the pigs hindlegs and forcibly tearing it from the pig before she started eating it, the thrashing of her head from each bite undoing her hair's spiked bun.

Hitoshi's eyes widened alongside Tetsutetsu's as they watched the lean but very well defined girl rip off the pig leg effortlessly and bite through it like it half melted butter. Her eyes had gone white as she just kept biting and the meat on the leg started disappearing. He shook his head and looked through the food, and picked out a few steaks for himself before pouring himself a cup of orange juice. Tetsutetsu, on the other hand, had found a serving plate full of liver and onions, shoveling it into his mouth.  
Hitoshi stole a glance back at Izuku and saw she had climbed onto the roast pork and started ripping large strips of flesh off the bones with her teeth, looking much like the zombie she claimed to be. He decided to keep her in his peripheral in case she decided she wanted some long pig too.

Meanwhile, in the viewing room where they watched the students and monitored the data sent by the sensors, Inko had her head in her hands while Gunhead, Hand of Harmony, and Kokku all started pumping their fists chanting "Go! Go! Go! Go!"

Izuku eventually moved off of the pig and found numerous cups of blueberry parfaits and apples. She grabbed the apples and started eating them, cores and all, occasionally stopping and pouring a parfait in her mouth. Once the parfaits were gone she grabbed a chicken by one of its legs and bit into the torso of the bird, her jaws easily crushing bone and grinding it. after another few minutes of her feeding frenzy, she was full and she snapped out of it, looking confused in the middle of the table with a quarter of a chicken in one hand and an empty pitcher of mixed berry juice.

Hitoshi and Tetsutetsu were staring at her in terror while she looked between them, wondering when she got on the table. After a moment she slowly brought the chicken over to her mouth and took another bite.

Gunhead grabbed one of the scientists' shoulders. "Please tell me we can get a recording of that, that was both totally awesome and absolutely terrifying." He said as Kokku excused herself to lead the children to the next test area before they succumbed to food comas. Gunhead grinned under his mask and went over to Inko, who was still covering her face with her hands. "At least she has a healthy appetite!"

Inko sparred a hand to slap his arm before using it to cover her face again, with Gunhead laughing uproariously.

With Izuku, she was apologizing for her bad manners while Hitoshi tried to explain it was fine. Tetsutetsu, on the other hand, took it as a challenge and was trying to eat more, but found himself slowing down as his stomach couldn't take any more food. Kokku made her way into the room and laughed a bit as she looked at the mess Izuku had torn across the table in her food frenzy. "I get the feeling I'm going to miss you at the end of our three days together." She said, inciting an embarrassed blush from the young girl. Hitoshi moved to stand to Izuku's right, Tetsutetsu following suit and standing to her left. Kokku had to keep herself from laughing, with Hitoshi standing a good four inches taller than Izuku and Tetsutetsu three inches taller it was like she was being flanked by two older brothers.

Kokku imagined the adorable little zombie girl would manage to get a lot of older brothers in life. Putting it out of her mind and focusing on her work she led the boys to the next part of the facility, where they rejoined the other examinees. This part of the building was white, the floors, the walls, the ceiling, all pristine and white. The only bit of color was the off white curtains and beds, all near individual doors. Soon various doctors were coming over to them with pads of paper and pens. "Hitoshi Shinsou, my name is Hatsugen, if you'd follow me I have a few questions for you." He said, and Hitoshi followed him while Izuku waved, a doctor taking her to a different part of the room as well.

The doctor pulled the curtain around them and gestured for Izuku to sit on the examination bed, which she did. "Alright, so, let's begin, let me know if we have information wrong. Your name is Izuku Midoriya, born on July 15th, and you have a mutation quirk?" The doctor said, and Izuku nodded. The doctor smiled that he had the right information and moved down the sheet to the questions. "So, first question, what do you know your quirk can do?"

Izuku grinned and pulled up her loose hair, showing the man the sutures across her head. "It keeps me from dying even though my heart's no longer beaten and I technically don't need to breathe aside from getting air to speak with, my muscles stitch me back when I get cut or dismembered, and I benefit from exercise quickly enough that I don't need rest days provided I give my body the materials it needs to grow." She said, and the doctor wrote it down without thinking about what she said until after he'd finished writing. He looked up at the smiling girl, who seemed way too innocent for the idea that she just said she'd died. "Oh, and when I dismember parts of myself and throw them, I get control of them when the muscle stitching makes contact, letting me grab distant objects, and I don't feel pain from it, just an odd peeling sensation, like when you pull off dried glue from your fingertips."

The doctor waited for the punchline before his earpiece buzzed. "She's telling the truth, write it down." One of the doctors in the viewing room let him know, so he continued, his skin notably more pale. Izuku waited for the next set of questions, her legs swinging underneath her.

"Alright, I have it that you named this quirk Patchwork Zombie, fairly straightforward and currently not taken, so there are no issues there. When you say you're getting results from training at a quicker pace as a result of your quirk, what exactly did you mean?"

"Prior to activation of my quirk three weeks ago, I could run at about ten miles an hour if I went as quickly as I could. Now when I try I clock in at thirty miles an hour." She said, then held out her arm with her wrist facing the ceiling, and clenched her fist. "In the exam, I did twenty-five hundred-pound deadlifts with only slight difficulty, prior to my quirk I struggled with thirty-pound rice bags."

The man nodded and wrote the stats down, and gestured for her to lie down on the exam table. Once she did he opened the door closest to them and wheeled her into the room. It contained an MRI Scanner, she was transferred onto the scanning bed and they headed out of the room. Once the door closed the MRI machine started up, and she closed her eyes.

* * *

In the main viewing room, Inko was watching the doctor in charge of monitoring her daughters' scans intently. If anything went wrong, if he showed any sort of fear, she would act. Instead, though the man seemed heavily interested in the readings, not scared in the slightest just deeply interested. "What does it say?"

The doctor closed his hands in front of his face and grinned. "She's... her internals have been completely rewired in almost every system, this is perhaps the most extreme case of a mutant quirk I've ever seen!" He said, bringing his hands away from his face and tapping the keys on his computer in rapid succession. "Organs and muscles she doesn't need are no longer connected to her neural network, new nerves have formed to allow her body to act despite the lack of those organs Her body has even repurposed the unused tissue to advance other parts of her body!"

Once he was done another scan came up, and the doctor brought the two side by side. "While Quirkless people might be the minority, they're still a good baseline to show how a quirk effects someone and hers has changed her dramatically." He said, and Inko paled as she realized there already a large number of differences she could spot as it was. The doctor however just seemed all the more excited to explain the changes he was finding. "For example, she doesn't have a pulse because her heart no longer exists, or more accurately she has dozens of much smaller hearts, all working in sequence to create a constant, smooth flow, it also creates a much lower pressure which her lungs couldn't support, she'd be breathing too rapidly."

"Normally this would be a problem, especially since our cells need oxygen to function, muscles specifically use oxygen as a form of lubricant to prevent overheating from friction and the brain uses it to keep from short-circuiting, so her body needed to get oxygen from somewhere that worked better than her lungs, find a replacement, or reduce the need for it." He said, then pointed out Izuku's new vascular system. "It decided on a mix of the first and third, starting with took an idea or two from amphibians, her skin, or at least the layers she shares with us is actually thinner than the average humans, but then there's a new layer in it."

Inko looked in a mix of horror and amazement as the doctor navigated the scan, showing her what her daughters' quirk had done. "Her skin absorbs oxygen and stores it within the new layer of her skin, which her new system uses to get a constant influx of oxygen at a slower pace but throughout a much larger area of her vascular system. However it didn't remove the alveoli in her lungs, She can breathe through them but it's not ideal." He said. "On top of that, it brought her bodies core temperature down so it would take more effort to bring her to a state of overheating. Finally her hair, her hair is much more rooted to her than a normal human because it acts as very large gills. If she were submerged it would be used as a set of external gills, taking over when submerged, and yes all body hair is included."

"And that's not even getting into the changes in her neural network to enable all of the changes in her various systems to function and give her body the commands it needs to stitch itself back together." The doctor said, his hands on his head as he stared in unbridled excitement at the scans. Inko took a few steps back, the doctor starting to creep her out and the explanation leaving her head spinning. Just how much of her daughter had changed in a single instant, a single step?

"So, what, her body is hyper-adapted to survive in any environment?" Gunhead said after a bit, looking at the scan. "Does she have a weak point anymore?"

"None with an absolute kill I can find, freezing her solid might shut her down but once she's out it's wholly possible her body will restart as it did when she first died, take a moment to recover, then pop her awake again." He said. "Assuming her body shuts down in the first place."

"Can we not talk about how to kill my daughter please!?"

* * *

Izuku heard the machine shut down and the bed she was on pulled out of the MRI, a doctor helped her off of the bed and led out to the previous room. Hitoshi and Tetsutetsu were looking around, quickly locking onto her before walking over, Hitoshi waving slightly. Izuku made her way to the two, ready to ask all sorts of questions about what the doctors had asked them. "Tetsutetsu, Hitoshi, tell me everything, did your doctor ask you to brainwash him to see how the receiving end experiences it, I think out of all the registered hypnosis quirks they've gone both ways, and Tetsutetsu… was is your quirk, what did the doctors want to know about it?"

"Calm down Izuku, has anyone ever mentioned you're like a hyper-energetic kitten?" Hitoshi said, getting a laugh from Tetsutetsu and a blush from Izuku. "And no, they were too afraid to let themselves be brainwashed... though that question brings up a good point..."

"As for the questions for me, my quirk is Steel, I can turn my body into a nigh-invulnerable metal but still move fairly well!" Tetsutetsu said, turning his arm to metal and waving it around. "Though I am a lot stiffer like that, so fluid movement is hard."

Izuku's eye shined as she looked between them, then focused on Hitoshi. "Brainwash me."

"I'm sorry what did you just say?" Hitoshi said, blinking at Izuku. She did realize people usually don't ask things like that right... right? Izuku grinned up at him and he realized she was actually being serious. He had the feeling she was about to give him a bunch of reason why he should brainwash her... this wasn't a kink was it, did Izuku know what kinks were, she seemed fairly innocent. "Because it sounded like you want me to use my brainwashing quirk, that I can use to make you do a lot of stuff you might not be comfortable with, on you."

"Do it for the sake of men everywhere, she's a literal monster girl, make it happen and make the dreams of all hot blooded men come true!" The boy with purple ball hair said, giving Hitoshi some serious goosebumps while Izuku looked between them in confusion. Oh god, she really is that innocent, she must be protected. He turned to his now fully metallic friend.

"Tetsutetsu."

"On it," Tetsutetsu said, reaching over to Izuku and turning her away from the perverse boy before lunging at him. The boy screamed in terror as Tetsutetsu barreled into him and sent examination beds in every direction.

"Izuku don't turn around." He said, getting his quirk ready to prevent her from witnessing what was about to happen.

"Hitoshi wha..." She said, and he let his quirk take effect over her, he looked over her shoulder and waited for a sign from Tetsutetsu. Eventually, the dust settled and Tetsutetsu gave a thumbs up. That's when he let go of her mind. "... That was awesome, it was like a haze, I could see but it was like my eyes were made of foggy glass... I wonder what a command would sound and feel like..."

Hitoshi sighed in relief when her tone of voice screamed an intellectual curiosity, not a filthy one.

"What a waste!"

"Your turn," Tetsutetsu said as he took Izukus hand and led her to where the doctor was waiting at an open door. Hitoshi nodded and turned towards the rather scuffed up looking boy with ball-shaped hair.

"Right, Grape face!"

"Wha…"

"Punch yourself right in the gut where my friend landed that beautiful haymaker, would you kindly." He said, using a line from an old game his father had mentioned becoming a big cultural thing based on pre quirk data... he might keep using that line, it felt really good to use. He shrugged as the boy flipped out and made his way into the next room, or rather, hallway.

"Girls to the left rooms, boys to the right." One of the doctors said, handing him a number. It felt early to sleep but at the same time, he could probably use a nap. So he took the number and went to the corresponding room. He saw as Izuku enter her room and was relieved to note Tetsutetsu was in the room across from her. Izuku looked at what was in front of her, the room wasn't very big but it was the first room she'd seen with a clock. It showed it was seven in the evening, and Izuku remembered how long it took to do the paperwork compared with everything else. Izuku searched the room to see what exactly she was given and found a bed, a change of clothes, a security camera, and a bamboo divider in the corner. She turned to the camera and bowed her head in thanks before grabbing the change of clothes and hiding behind the divider to change.

She wasn't sure what tomorrow had in store, but if it was anything like today she was sure it would be a lot of fun.

* * *

Toshinori stumbled out of Sorahiko's home, landing on his hands and knees and letting out a painful cough. He was covered in bruises and after taking a hit that threw him into a table, had a thin line of blood going down his face from a small cut on his forehead and joining the blood from his mouth as it dripped from his chin. He'd taken the time to talk with Sir Nighteye about his conundrum, as well as Naomasa, and once that was done had gone to see Sorahiko, his old mentor, about the problem. He hadn't taken the news of Toshinori's mistake well, to say the least.

 _"You were quirkless when she found you, dreaming of heroics and giving it your all, have you forgotten!?"_

 _"Fighting for a world where we can smile and laugh together while you destroy a girl's dreams as she bares her heart to you, Is that world you want Toshinori!?"_

 _"She taught you better than this, fool boy!"_

Once he'd stopped his assault, Toshinori barely being able to defend himself without activating One for All as it would only further enrage the man, Sorahiko spoke.

 _"I've long since learned that no-one is perfect but a part of me could never find what part of Nana Shimura wasn't perfect. I didn't know if I didn't want to or if she was the exception to the rule. I see now what her flaw was, she was tricked by people's false bravado, your false bravado. She thought you'd not only become a better hero but also have a spirit stronger than hers so that One for All would live on in a person who wouldn't let the pains of being a hero break them. You've broken Toshinori and now when people depend on you, you keep breaking, letting people fall into the abyss and shatter. You want my opinion, fine, I'll go and meet with Sir Nighteye and Gunhead, learn about the two of them and let you know who I think would be best for it. In the meantime keep faking the hero schtick, even a broken symbol is better than none I guess."_

Toshinori climbed into his car and sighed, he wasn't sure what he'd expected from the old man but at the same time, he wasn't surprised by his anger. Sorahiko wasn't wrong either, how could he have forgotten he was once in the same place as her, dreaming of being a hero with no quirk and making the world safer, better. Toshinori felt tears run down his cheeks, Nana Shimura had told him to remember his origin, his dream, all of it and he just forgot it due to one hard fight after years of simple ones. He put his forehead against his steering wheel and the tears fall. Sorahiko was right...

Just what had he become?

Sorahiko shook his head as finished changing from his hero costume to his nightwear, he couldn't believe what he'd just been told. Toshinori of all people driving a girl to suicide, all because she had the same origin as he did. Well, he supposed that wasn't quite true, she did have a quirk but had been living without it because of the cruelest activation condition he'd ever heard of. A mutation on death that creates a living zombie with no pulse... a small part of him doubted the story, at least the part where the girl came back to life. Not that he didn't want her to be alive but he'd heard of people getting stranger ideas to try and cope with mental and emotional traumas He was an old hero, technically retired, in a world where people were born with superpowers, he'd dealt with his share of crazies.

He looked out his window to see Toshinori crying into his steering wheel, at least the man was remorseful. If he wasn't he'd probably drag the man to the local station and have him arrested, heroics be damned.

"Toshinori… you damn fool..."


	6. A Name Repeated in Mirrors

_Circus of Horrors Arc, Part 2 : A Name Repeated in Mirrors and A Smile made with Scissors_

 ** _Warning, Graphic Scenes ahead._**

* * *

Izuku yawned and sat up in her bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and looking around. She was in the clinic, the day before she'd met two new friends, Hitoshi and Tetsutetsu, and now she was on day two of her quirk examination. She hoped she'd get to train again with Kokku, she was quick to find her limit which meant she could break past them further.

She climbed out of the bed and then straighten up the sheets, pillow, and blankets. She then tucked the blankets into the bed and looked around. She didn't see a new change of clothes, just her old clothes hanging from the bamboo divider. A look to the clock showed it was Eight in the morning, and as if by magic a nurse came into her room with a folded hospital gown stopping once she saw that the girl was awake.

"Hello, my name is Tsukanoma, please give me a moment and we'll be making our way to the washroom." She said as she walked over to the bed and put the change of clothes on it. Izuku nodded, waiting as the nurse looked over the room and noted the state of it, then took her dirty clothes. The nurse stepped back and looked for anything she might have missed before nodding. "Alright, we'll get these laundered while the first exam for the day is being taken care of, please take the gown and follow me. We'll be heading to the washrooms so you can clean up with the soap provided, in order to facilitate today's initial scan."

"Okay, thank you," Izuku said, stepping over to the bed and picking up the gown before walking a few steps behind Tsukanoma, the washrooms were at the end of the hall, and there were two other girls. One of them was a slightly pale girl with most of her black hair tied into a spiky ponytail, leaving only the right side of her bangs to hang loose. Her onyx colored eyes flickered over to Izuku and she waved, already dressed in one of the provided hospital gowns. Next to her was a girl with long black hair reaching down to her elbows, save for her bangs which were just long enough to cover her nose. Her skin was electric blue and she seemed to have rushed behind the first girl and was peaking around her. From what Izuku could see she was also in a gown.

"Hello, I don't think we met during the testing, I'm Momo Yaoyorozu, and this is Osore Dendo." The girl with the ponytail said, and the girl behind her waved as her name was said. Izuku smiled and waved back. "What's your name?"

"I'm Izuku Midoriya, it's nice to meet you!" Izuku said, then looked around and, spotting the showers and rushing over to them. "I'll be right back!"

Momo nodded and turned slightly to look at the girl behind her. Osore was rather small, a good foot shorter than her. "Hey, it's okay, she seems nice," Momo said, the girl had gotten scared by something between the post-workout meal and the end of the scans, latching to her for some reason. "Maybe the three of us could be friends?"

Osore nodded and slowly stepped out from behind Momo, who used her quirk to make a pair of simple hairclips. The girl took them and clipped her bangs out of her face, showing a pair of pitch black eyes with crimson eyeshadow. Osore smiled up at Momo, who patted her shoulder as Izuku came out from the showers, the hospital gown on and ready for whatever tests would come. Seeing the two girls were still there she waved and went over to the sink.

There was her dark green toothbrush and hairbrush, which her mother had remembered to grab for her when they left, some simple toothpaste, and her hairband which she thought she lost in her feeding frenzy. She started to brush her teeth and Momo and Osore made their way over to her, arriving just as Izuku started rinsing her mouth. She spat into the sink, wiped her mouth with a paper towel, and looked at the reflection of the two in the mirror.

"Sorry, I wanted to be clean before anything," Izuku said, getting a nod from Momo and Osore. The two understood, both of them had felt somewhat dirty when they woke up realizing they hadn't cleaned up after the workout. Izuku started to brush her hair. "What's your quirks, mine is Patchwork Zombie."

Momo raised an eyebrow at the name of her quirk but mentally shrugged, deciding not to read too much into it. "Mine is Creation, I can configure the lipids in my body into various elements and designs, then pull them from my body. From what Osore was able to gesture to me she can enter any electronic that is either equal in size or bigger than." She said, Osore nodding a confirmation while Momo looked at Izuku's blue lips. Momo then held out a hand, from her palm a stick of pale beige lipstick. Izuku watched in awe, then froze up and Momo held it out for her. "Try this, I think it'd look nice, those two boys that seemed to gravitate to you after the scans would enjoy seeing it too."

Izuku took the lipstick, then looked at Momo. "... What do I do with it?" She said, then jumped as shadows seemed to form around Momo's face, save for two glowing yellow eyes and a catlike grin. Suddenly it all disappeared, her eyes now twinkling and her grin bright as she took Izuku's hand, dragging the girl in front of her. She made sure to have Izuku face the mirror and Osore moved to Izuku's left side. "H-Hey!"

"Don't worry, we're just going to help you out a bit, didn't your mother show you how to do makeup?" Momo said as she put Izuku in front of the mirror and formed a small case of pale pink blush. Osore nodded from the side, pointing at her at her eyeshadow. Izuku shook her head.

"Mom did my face once when I was eight, then a girl got mad at me for being near Kacchan and they put my head in a toilet," Izuku said, getting a loud gasp from Momo and a silent one from Osore, who then glared adorably and started jumping up and down to stamp her feet. Momo looked at Osore and nodded.

"You're right Osore, bullies are intolerable," Momo said, then looked at Izuku's reflection as she turned the lipstick. "Well, that won't happen here, and when we're done you'll have those do doing whatever you so desire."

"Like what?" Izuku said before Osore's hand went up to her left cheek and Momo's went to her right cheek, pushing slightly to force her lips into an o shape.

"All kinds of things," Momo said, Osore nodding rapidly. "Now, hold still."

Izuku felt a spark of fear as the lipstick came towards her lips.

* * *

Hitoshi pulled the towel from his hair, then quickly combed through it to get rid of any tangles and nothing else. It was naturally messy and any attempts to make it otherwise ended in failure. Standing next to him, Tetsutetsu was brushing his teeth with a specialized brush that had bristles tough enough not to get cut by his sharp teeth. All of the boys were dressed, most of them making small talk.

From what he could overhear, the boy they'd attempted to teach a lesson to was Minoru about which girls they liked best. His attempts including comparing their bodies in various ways, saying the 'Zombie girl' had the best stomach and legs, the 'tall one' had just the right thickness, and the 'blue girl' was a total supernatural loli.

He could see Tetsutetsu brush moving quicker and angrier with each comment, seemed he wasn't big of openly perverse stuff. Neither was he, admittedly, but he was holding it back for now. He'd wait until the right moment to embarrass the boy.

The other two's names were Roy Kestrel and Tsubame Bantan, both of which were trying to ignore Minoru but couldn't help blushing. Said blush apparently egging Minoru on because he was still going.

Roy's quirk that turned the hair on his head into a long set of brown feathers black and white stripes just before the ends, as well as a mouth that pointed outwards like a very shallow beak with a flat nose. He also had a bit more space between his eyes than normal. He was heavily tanned as if he spent all the time he could outside in the sun. Aside from that, he didn't see anything odd about the boy, just his head resembling a cross between a human and a bird. He was also rather small, Minoru himself being only a half a foot shorter than him.

Tsubame was much larger in comparison, having a good two inches on Hitoshi. Tsubame had a very strange body shape. His belly and waist were like one large ball, easily a good four feet wide at the widest point, with his hips and rather average looking legs sticking out from the bottom. He had a chest that was similar in width to Tetsutetsus but was tube like and sticking out of the top of the ball like belly, his arms sticking out of the sides where they'd be on a normal torso, resting on the sides of said belly. The next odd part about him was his neck, or rather lack of one, sticking out of the top of his torso was a half capsule shaped head with a mouth that stretched halfway around it. His skin was the same color as a medium rare steak while his buzz cut hair looked like the searing on the steak. The man also had beady eyes that were blue of all things.

Despite the odd look, he spoke in a more sophisticated tone, which he hadn't expected from the shape. He snorted to himself, look at him, judging people by the appearance of their quirks. You'd think he'd know better.

"So... it'll be your turn next time, any ideas?" Hitoshi said as Tetsutetsu rinsed out his mouth and spat into the sink. The man wiped his lips and made a thinking pose, rubbing this thumb against his chin.

"He's small, I'll scream 'villain, fastball special' grab him, and throw him at something. Say I saw it move and figured a villain was scouting us. You?"

"I used my quirk on him yesterday, so I probably shouldn't today. Maybe I'll stumble and whatever I'm holding with fly into him faster than would be expected." Hitoshi said as they made their way out of the washroom and into the hallway. Tetsutetsu's eyes widened as if he'd had an epiphany

"Oh, a fake accident, yeah, I should do that too, less trouble that way..." Tetsutetsu said, his words trailing off as he opened the door and slowly froze. Hitoshi raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder. His eyes widened as he saw what caused his new friend to freeze up.

Standing between the other two girls in their examination group was Izuku. Her hair tied into two side ponytails held up by red ribbons that stuck up into the air like rabbit ears. Her once blue lips were now a pale beige, just a few shades darker than her pale skin, and her cheeks were dusted with the slightest shade of pink. Her eyelashes looked a tad longer and a shade darker than the day before, accenting her eyes just a smidgen more.

She also was looking in amazement at herself using a small handheld mirror that the taller of the girls was holding. "It's so pretty..." Izuku said, seemingly in shock at the effects the makeup had on her visage, the small blue girl nodding so fast Hitoshi wouldn't be surprised if she turned dizzy and fell when she stopped. Izuku then turned and hugged the taller girl. "Thank you!"

"Anytime Izuku." The taller one said before Izuku let go of her, saw the two of them, and started waving. The two other girls looked at Hitoshi and Tetsutetsu, and then grinned slyly while Izuku just looked excited to see them.

"Damn it... what do we do?" Tetsutetsu said through a clenched jaw, and Hitoshi just shook his head, patting Tetsutetsu on the back. The two started moving again, coming out of the men's washroom while Izuku made her way over to them. "She's really cute right now... not sure I can take it...!"

"Play it cool she's getting close," Hitoshi said as Izuku stepped up to them. "Hey, Izuku... you look nice..."

Izuku's eyes sparkled and Hitoshi wasn't sure what had more in it, his face or his heart. "Thank you Hitoshi, you look nice too, so do you Tetsutetsu!" She said, and he was pretty sure he saw Tetsutetsu tense up even more. Tetsutetsu's body started taking a metallic sheen as his quirk started to activate from how tense he was. "Did you both sleep well?"

"Sure did... Izuku..." Hitoshi said while Tetsutetsu just made a sound resembling an attempt to talk, but was too tense to move anything in his mouth. Hitoshi moved to bail his friend out. He put an arm around Tetsutetsus shoulder and shrugged. "Don't mind Tetsutetsu, he's just nervous as to what we'll be doing today, after the rough workout yesterday."

He grabbed Tetsutetsu's shoulder and squeezed, whispering in his ear. "Get it together man," Hitoshi said, and Tetsutetsu nodded, doing a few breathing exercises to calm himself down and then grinned at Izuku.

"Sorry about that, still sore from yesterday and some of the mindless chat in the washroom involved what we might do today got me anxious." He said, his skin returning to normal while the two other girls giggled, one of them silently. The two boys gave the two girls a quick glare just long enough not to be noticed as Izuku blinked. "So, why the makeup, not trying to sound mean, it looks really good, but I didn't see any on you yesterday?"

Izuku was about to respond when the taller girl did for her. "I made her some lipstick with my quirk and, realizing she didn't know how to put it on, helped apply it along with some blush and eyeliner." She said as she walked up to them, patting Izuku on the head softly while Osore skipped over to Izuku's left side. "My name's Momo Yaoyorozu, and this is Osore Dendo, you are?"

"Hitoshi Shinsou, and this is Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu," Hitoshi said, looking between the girls. Of course Izuku would turn out to be a friend magnet while he's trained to be anti-social thanks to his quirk. Maybe that would work actually, usually does regardless if he wants it to or not. "You said you used your quirk to create the makeup, sounds useful, my quirks brainwashing."

Momo blinked at him and nodded with a smile. "That should make for a very useful quirk in heroics, provided you use it right."

The one time he wants it to scare people off he gets more people like Izuku who see the use of it. "Yeah, I suppose it will, can you make other stuff with your quirk?" He said, well, if you can't scare them off, get friendly with them because Izuku's going to keep them around anyway.

Momo nodded. "So long as I understand how it's made, I can make it."

"Nice, perfect for a first response hero," Hitoshi said, Izuku beaming in joy between the four of them. Her new friends were all being nice to each other and she was shown the basics of how to do her own makeup. She could barely contain her squeal of joy.

"My quirks Steel, it lets me turn my body into organic metal, I'm nigh invulnerable when I activate it," Tetsutetsu said, flexing an arm and activating his quirk in said arm to turn it to metal. "Though it can be hard to move smoothly."

Osore gestured, miming a box in front of her, then stepping into it and shaking like she was electrocuted. Hitoshi hummed for a moment and when Izuku opened her mouth he spoke before she could. "You can enter electronics?" He said, Osore nodded, and then mimed a small box, then mimed stepping and stomping on it in frustration. "But not if it's smaller than you, does that include wires?"

Osore shrugged and Hitoshi nodded. "Haven't tried, fair enough, probably safer to test it here than at home." He said, and the five started walking down the hall, making small talk and brainstorming what they might be doing. There was a nurse at the end of the hall where they'd come from the night before and as they got closer, she opened the door for them to re-enter that room.

* * *

Kokku was in the viewing room, security cameras watching as five entered the medical area. She smirked at the fact the two boys had fallen into flanking positions behind the girls while Izuku animatedly spoke with Momo and Osore. Nurses came up to them all and led them to different parts of the room, pulling curtains to separate the areas. While the kids had been asleep they had moved a number of ultrasound scanners into the room, set up for musculoskeletal scans. Soon the other boys had entered the room and were led to their own areas and the nurses got to work.

The soaps used in the showers were a body wash gel that left a thin residue. Coined Pre-scan Cleanser by most clinics, it had invented years ago by a gymnophobic radiologist who didn't want to deal with applying the gel himself. Selfish reasons aside it had been very useful in quirk examinations processes like the one they were currently in the middle of. Soon the ultrasound transducers were readied and the supervising doctor in the room used his quirk to form a set of air walls. It wasn't a powerful quirk, all it did was allow the doctor to soundproof areas, the walls could be walked through without effort. Helpful when having multiple sound-based devices going off at once though, preventing them from screwing up each other's results.

The doctor looked up to the security camera to nod confirmation the walls were up, and the doctors around her gave the nurses the green light to start scanning.

Kokku laughed quietly to herself, remembering the time a rather paranoid man had tried to get the clinic in trouble for quirk usage. At the time she was certain she wasn't allowed to use her quirk but soon learned that the quirk regulation bylaws were much more extensive than 'Licensed Heroes Only'. When the clinic got off scot-free and a fellow employee told her the clinic was licensed she looked into the laws further.

Originally, there was only one kind of quirk license, that being the Hero License. However, after a while, a politician who realized heroes were slowly becoming the only job worth getting began a campaign to create a more complex and wide-reaching set of quirk licenses. Thus two sets of license came into play, called Work Licenses and Security Licenses. The first was the one that came into play before and was fairly straight forward.

A Work License was applied to a business or employer first, then it's workers could apply to get a Sublicense that was active so long as they worked for that business. Said license and sublicense could be revoked if it's employees were found guilty of using their quirks for vigilantism or just straight misusage. Security licenses were essentially the same thing but specific to security workers and only certain kinds of workplaces, such as a bank guard, hospital security, or military.

It allowed people like her who didn't really feel the drive to be a hero or people like the doctor who's quirk was stupidly situational, to still use their quirks for the good of society, rather than leave the potential resource at the wayside.

Screens lit up as the ultrasound scans started coming in, each of them being pursed for damage, seeing if any of the children were still recovering or if any of them had torn anything.

"Kokku, you said patient Midoriya did the most during the workout section of the exam, correct?" One of the doctors said, and she turned to him. She wasn't sure what the scan said and it wasn't the first time she'd been asked that question. What made her pause was the doctors' tone, it was different from the usual way the question was posed.

"Kokku?"

"Right, sorry, yes, she was able to complete the first set, which I had her start at four times the weight of the others when she started the workout with extreme ease," Kokku said, smiling a bit at the memory of the girls' energy. "She also ate nearly three times the amount of the other boys who completed the first set, why?"

"She's recovered fully, the muscular system shows signs similar to post-workout scans following two consecutive rest days." He said, blowing up the scan to only show her bicep. Kokku whistled, sure, she couldn't read scans for each detail like the doctors but with the close up there was one thing even she could notice. The girl had a lot of muscle in a small space, she was dense in a way that mirrored heroes with muscle-specific mutants and powers. "I'm not sure if it's regenerative or if it's considered adaptive."

Twice now Kokku was given pause in the viewing room of all places. Regenerative was one thing, Adaptive, however, would probably increase her monitor requirements a step. Regeneration could be countered, it just took a lot of energy or copious amounts of damage. Endeavor was good at Anti-Regenerator work, when villains with the capacity showed up he was quick to take them out, his fire slowing the process enough for a good hit to finish the job. All-Might was also good at it, his attacks able to cause so much damage in a single moment that regeneration couldn't keep up.

Adaptive was different, while adaptive quirks didn't have the same defensive capacity as a regenerator at the start of a fight, all they had to do was survive to outdo a regenerator later. cut a regenerator and they'll fix the wound and a cut will still work, cut an adaptive and let them heal, the knife will bounce or break next time.

She'd likely need twenty-four seven monitoring until she got to a hero school, then a dorm at the school so they could take over monitoring duties until she was considered safe. Kokku wasn't sure what it'd take to consider a zombie safe. She looked at the doctor and nodded. "Call the mother and offer upper-level regeneration tests, if she agrees and Midoriya turns out adaptive call Gunhead, he's her monitor and can make the call whether or not to petition to increase her risk potential."

The doctor nodded and went back to the scans, pressing a button on his headset to let the nurse know to offer the tests. As Kokku looked around she noted the man in charge of watching the security cameras tap his headset.

"Camera flicker in the washrooms, send a team to investigate."

* * *

Izuku looked at the nurse as she tilted her head to the side, nodded, and smiled at her. "The doctors are going over your scans and noticed something. There is a possibility of additional tests but we need permission from your guardian." The nurse said before she helped Izuku up from the examination table. "While we call them, please follow your fellow examinees to the girls' washroom and use the new soap in the showers to rinse, then get dressed in the clothing provided in the locker corresponding to your room number."

Izuku nodded and headed out of the curtained room, where Momo and Osore were waiting for her, Hitoshi and Tetsutetsu were just getting out of their exam areas and waved when they saw her before heading towards the hall to the men's washroom. She walked over to Momo and Osore. "How'd the testing go?" She said as the three began to make their way to the girl's washroom. "They didn't give me any exacts but they said there were some tests that opened up for me to take that they needed my mom to okay."

Osore held up four fingers, then made a fist, followed by making a circle with her fingers, a flat palm, another circle, and then a thumbs up.  
"She's forty percent recovered, I'm a forty-five percent, probably due to me eating a bit more and having a fairly normal workout routine once my parents discovered my quirk," Momo said, smiling as they came up to the door to the washroom. Before they could open the door through a security guard opened it and left along with two other guards. "Is everything okay?"

"Maybe they were just doing a routine check, Pro-hero Gunhead told me there's been an increase in crime lately," Izuku said, getting odd looks from the two girls before they shrugged and the three of them entered the room. The lockers were easy enough to find, and they found the clinic had laundered the clothes they came in they had their clothes, they made their way to the showers.

* * *

Katsuki was waiting at a park where Mirio told him to the day before, sipping a can of soda. The idea was simple, Mirio, Nejire, and Tamaki would help him brainstorm ideas for his quirk using their experiences as heroes. What sort of stuff was needed out there, what could his quirk do about it, that sort of thing. Then he could head to the junkyard on Dagobah Beach with Izuku and try out the ideas, see if they worked. It wasn't direct training but that he could get with Izuku, this would give him an edge to keep up with her until they were in UA, once there they'd get near-exclusive training with various pro heroes.

He'd checked in on Izuku's apartment in the morning, she was still at the clinic while her mother Inko awaited results. He figured his mother would probably be going with her this time, moral support. He decided it would be best to give his mother as little reason to worry about him as possible and just kept out of the way. "Hello Young Katsuki, we have arrived!" Mirio said, and Katsuki sighed and threw back the rest of his soda before crushing the can.

"You're doing this for Izuku, it's for Izuku," Katsuki said under his breath before looking around for Mirio and his friends, spotting them a good ten meters away. Mirio was in a blue t-shirt with a yellow dollar sign on it, along with rust red cargo pants and shoes. Flanking him was Nejire, who was wearing a blue tie die shirt with a pair of plain blue jeans and brown sandals, and Tamaki in a black and white hoodie with black pants and boots. Mirio was grinning so widely Katsuki was sure it was going to hurt his face later, and Nejire was just smiling. They waved him over and made way towards a picnic bench, and Katsuki sighed once more before heading to them. "So, where should we begin."

"How does your quirk work, when we met all I remember is you throwing your hands at me and then an explosion," Mirio said, having pulled a pad of paper and pen from... somewhere, Katsuki didn't want to know. "It was rather spectacular but... straightforward?"

Katsuki scoffed. "My hands sweat nitroglycerin, which I can ignite at to create explosions. The blasts don't hurt my hands normally but the heat does make me sweat more, too much and controlling it becomes difficult. If I create a big enough it's possible to mess up my arms from the recoil."

"Can you decide how much of your hand you use?" Tamaki said, getting looks from all three of them, "If he only used a small amount, there'd still be sweat on his hands, rather than having to wait for more to form, with some way to direct the blasts he could create a low powered, rapid-fire option."

"Ah, that's perfect!" Mirio said, and Nejire nodded. Katsuki looked at his hand and thought about it, about the mess he'd on that day because all he'd had was indiscriminate explosions. Why hadn't he already thought about this, he'd barely started getting into his quirk and they pointed that out. Katsuki glared at his hand, annoyed at himself. Mirio had been right, he needed another viewpoint, an experienced viewpoint just like Izuku was getting from Gunhead. "Any idea's on how you'd do it?"

"I think so... maybe use one hand to make a barrel, shape the blast area... I also had an idea about a set of gauntlets to store up my sweat for later use, with this idea I could go even further with them..."

"Ha, look at that Tamaki, one little push and he's already going strong, told you he'd make a good student!"

This would work, he could do this, for Izuku's sake.

He wondered how she was doing.

* * *

Izuku sneezed, sending a cloud of blush at the mirror in front of her. After they'd showered Momo decided to reapply Izukus makeup, Izuku wasn't exactly sure why Momo was so excited to be teaching her how but it felt nice, so she didn't say anything. "Don't worry, I'll make another one. As I was saying you're really pale, so it's not hard to accidentally make it look too heavy, and since you don't wear makeup often if you start wearing heavy makeup won't look right." She said, and Izuku held herself back from nodding since Momo was dusting her cheeks again. "Plus you have a bit of a cute charm to you rather than a seductive, so just a little makeup works best."

Osore nodded next to her, wearing a white sleeveless shirt and matching shorts. Izuku herself was in her green shirt and black shorts she'd come in wearing, and Momo was in a black shirt and shorts. Osore then gestured to her eyes, then brought her fingertips close together, and finally made a pair of fists before splaying her fingers out.

"Osore's right, you just want to give your eyes a little pop. Not enough to draw attention to them or make them stand out, but enough to make them harder to ignore when you get expressive with them."

"Like a pitfall trap covered in leaves, you don't notice the change but then you fall in and it's all you think about?"

"Oh, sure, that works?" Momo said, looking over at Osore who just shrugged at Izuku's comparison. Izuku beamed at having figured it out but then frowned and looked confused. Momo took note and tilted her head. "Is something wrong?"

"But... isn't it bad to trap friends, you said it's for Hitoshi, Tetsutetsu, and my friend Katsuki back at home, what if they get mad?"

Momo couldn't help the small "Aww" that came out of her mouth before she patted Izuku on the head. "Don't worry too much about it, they won't get mad, imagine the trap as a fun one like a surprise party." She said, then went to start applying the eyeliner. Izuku closed one eye while Momo continued. "When it comes down to it, they like stuff like this."

* * *

"I don't like this," Tetsutetsu said, wearing a silver shirt with gunmetal grey shorts. Hitoshi sighed, his hands already at his temples to stave off the headache about to form. Both of them were waiting in the hallway between the rooms, washrooms, and the medical room. "I don't like this at all."

Hitoshi was in a simple grey shirt with a multitude of purple horizontal lines across his chest and dark purple shorts. "Neither do I but she seemed happy with it and it does look nice," Hitoshi said, rubbing the back of his neck. Roy and Tsubame were still talking with Minoru, though they seemed a bit scared of something he was saying. He kept his eye on them just in case something needed to be done. He didn't like the boy's open perversion and wasn't sure why the other two put up with it. Maybe they were scared of the two of them or something, considering they were the only two aside from Izuku to complete a set it was possible. "Anyway, getting away from that before that guy tries to drag us into his conversation, you hoping to get into UA?"

Tetsutetsu nodded. "Definitely, I'm going to be on top and that means going to the top school!" Tetsutetsu said, bringing a hand up and thumping his chest. Hitoshi could respect that, he was hoping for UA himself. He nodded to Tetsutetsu and brought a fist up. Tetsutetsu looked at it and grin, bumping it with his own fist. "To becoming the best graduates UA's ever had!"

"I'll be happy if I make it in, but yeah, to being the best," Hitoshi said as the door to the girl's washroom opened up, Izuku, Momo, and Osore walking out in the workout clothing they'd wore the day before. Izuku's makeup was still on, Hitoshi guessed it had been replaced after they washed up. "So, good results so far?"

Momo nodded. "We're recovering well, though Izuku might have recovered at too quick a pace to not check for more." She said, Izuku looking eager next to her while Osore held a hand up, Izuku quickly high fived her. Osore then held her stinging hand from how hard Izuku had high fived her in her excitement. "They're calling her mom for permission to do additional tests."

"I'm sorry!" Izuku said, Osore shaking her head looking more amused than anything.

Hitoshi shook his head in amusement, then heard the door leading to the medical area open. He turned to see two nurses walk in, the first stopped to speak with Minoru, Roy, and Tsubame, while the other made a beeline for Izuku. Hitoshi started cataloging the nurse's appearance, her scrubs were white, as was the face mask covering her lower face. She had dark hair from what he could tell of the few locks sticking out of her hairnet, which looked hastily put on. Finally, her eyes made him uneasy, a set of pale white irises made her pupils look like small pins. He found himself preparing to move between her and Izuku when she reached their group.

"Hello, your mother has given us permission to offer you a secondary set of tests as a result of your quirk recovery." The nurse said, making Izuku start bouncing on the balls of her feet with barely contained excitement. "Please follow me so we can explain the tests and, if you want to go through them, begin."

Izuku nodded and they made their way down the hall, back into the medical room. They went to the back of the room and the nurse looked at her. "That makeup looks well done, dear, I'm afraid I'm no good with it." She said, and Izuku looked up at the nurse, not sure what brought it up.

"Thanks, my new friend helped me with it, but you don't need makeup to be pretty, I bet you're still pretty," Izuku said, trying to be nice, the woman smiled if the shifting of her facemask was anything to go by so Izuku called it a win. A large metal door with a keypad above the handle and some sort of box with room for her to place her hands inside. The woman entered a few numbers and Izuku could hear metal grinding before the door went silent again. She opened the door and gestured for Izuku to enter before stepping to the box and sticking her hands in it, Izuku nodded slowly and made her way inside. She could smell a hint of bleach in the room. It was like the medical room white, but rather than curtains and examination tables there was shelves from corner to corner, a blood drawing chair, and a glass wall with a door that led to a room with a table, microscope, centrifuge, and refrigerator with a biohazard label.

Each shelf was lined with drawers, and each drawer had a code on it, starting with a letter than three numbers. The nurse breathed in deeply and sighed, then looked at Izuku. "This is the Regeneration and Adaptation testing room, we get to do this testing because we have a medical quirk on staff." She said, pulling open one of the drawers and getting a set of gloves with folded cuffs. She took one and pinched it where it was folded and pulled it onto her left hand, then she reached into the cuff of the other glove and pulled it over her right. She looked at the gloves before smiling shutting the draw before moving to the next, this time pulling out a scalpel. "If you agree, we will be testing your body's ability to heal from various wounds, as well as test your immune system against various known dangers. The Tests will consist of minor to major traumas due to what the initial scans show concerning your ability to heal. Your mother has agreed to us offering the exam under the condition that if you agree one of our mental quirk users keeps you unconscious throughout, as she does not want you 'getting ideas' as she put it. Do you agree to do these tests?"

Izuku nodded, and suddenly found herself in a field of flowers. Meanwhile, the nurse caught the girl and moved her to the chair, setting her arm on the enlarged armrest.

"Now to begin." The woman said as she went back to the shelves and pulled out a single-eyed set of goggles with a dial around the lens  
The nurse put on the lens and held the scalpel in her hand, heading back to the chair and turning Izuku's left arm over so the palm of her hand was facing the ceiling. "First test, blade wound, scalpel cut three inches long across the heel of the palm." She said as she dragged the scalpel over Izuku's palm, sutures of muscle formed from the wound and the woman turned the dial on the lens. "Result, Sutures immediately closed wound, blood oozed into the wound prior to sealing was pushed out as the sutures brought her flesh back together before the sutures released a clear fluid. Based on blood congealing clear liquid may be platelets. Rather than rough, the scab formed is very smooth, moving to the next test."

She looked at Izuku's forearm "Second Test, blade wound, scalpel slash across the forearm." She said, placing the edge of the scalpel against Izuku's forearm. She breathed in, and then exhaled and swung her arm. The scalpel slid smoothly, separating flesh and leaving a large cut across Izuku's arm. Just as before the sutures formed, blood slowly oozing out of the wound as it was pulled shut and a smooth scab formed. The nurse looked at the scab and nodded. "Result, same as before, her body seems to be responding to cuts to minimize blood loss. Returning to initial cut."

She looked at Izuku's palm, the scab was missing, with only a thin scar with the sutures still over it. "Wound has already healed fully, however, sutures remain over a healing scar, possible reminder of previous wounds?" She said before heading back to the shelves and reaching into the same drawer, finding a combat knife before heading back to Izuku. "Third Test, blade wound, Major Trauma, combat knife cut to left bicep to the bone."

She turned the dial on the lens before she lifted Izuku's arm by her wrist and swung the knife, it cut into her arm and scraped against Izuku's humerus. She saw a flash of white and the muscles twitching, the lens showing them tightening around blood veins to control how much blood entered the wound, this time enough that when the sutures came and closed the wound there was blood dripping down her arm. "End result same as before, however, due to the size and depth of the wound once the sutures closed the wound blood did spill from the wound. When watching the wound visible blood veins were partially clamped by her muscular system to ensure only a certain amount of blood entered the wound. Fourth test, blade wound, stab wound by medical scissors to left shoulder, will not remove blade for five seconds to see if body attempts to eject, after which, if no attempt, it will be removed."

Pulling a pair of scissors from her scrubs, she put Izukus arm down on the armrest before jabbing down, burying the scissors in Izuku's shoulder. Blood pooled around the handle, and the nurse counted down. "Five One thousand, Four One thousand, Three One thousand, Two One thousand, One One Thousand. No attempt by the body to remove the obstruction." She said, then pulled out the scissors, blood dripped from the blades and the sutures formed, closing the wound. "Blood soaked the obstruction, muscles may not be able to fully stop her bleeding, once removed sutures formed and sealed wound immediately. Moving on to blunt force testing."

The nurse smiled under her mask, heading back to the shelves, wondering when the real fun would start.

* * *

"We have another flicker in the washroom cameras, send an engineer." Kokku heard Security Chief Heishi say into his headset, and she moved over to flank him. After the camera had flickered the first time he'd been called to join them in the viewing room, help keep an eye on things. She rather liked him, he didn't do nonsense and was good at his job. "That's three times today, guess that's we get for using outdated tech."

Kokku watched the camera feed showing the girls washroom, only one camera having a problem was an issue that she didn't like the sound of. They had good security and effectively everyone had a license allowing quirk usage either as a security measure or as part of their jobs, said jobs also included 'protection of patients' as part of the job description to leave them a loophole but they weren't heroes.

The engineer showed up on the camera and then looked up at it. He tilted his head before making his way over to it, his body filling camera's view. The camera went dark, the engineer must have unplugged it to look over the damage. Kokku narrowed her eyes when the camera didn't turn back on after a few moments. "How long are they left dark, don't we have another camera angle?"

"Not in the washrooms, The showers are open and there aren't any angles that protect the modesty of our visitors aside from the one this camera is set up at." He said, and she huffed, seemed like a minor issue compared to ensuring security. The camera still wasn't active and the man tapped his headset. "Shibito, can we get a confirmation, we can't keep the cameras dark... Shibito, confirm issue please... Security Team B please head to the girl's washroom and confirm Shibito is alright, we're non-responsive."

Kokku felt a pit in her stomach and tapped the security chiefs shoulder. "Maybe move some people to the test area, just in case." She said, and he nodded, while he did that she made her way over to leave the room and check on the kids as well. The door opened before she got to it and a man came in with a phone. "Who's on the line?"

"No one, I just got off the phone with Mrs. Midoriya, she's thankful we called her first but she doesn't want to go through with the regeneration tests. She says when Izuku gets into a hero school she'll face plenty of injuries in training that'll set a good benchmark." He said, and Kokku's eyes widened before she snarled and looked to the chief. "Ma'a-"

"Chief Heishi, we've got a possible villain posing as a nurse in the regeneration testing room, put this building on lockdown and get Ureshi out of Izuku's head!" Kokku said, getting a nod from the chief as she pushed past the man, grabbing the phone as she did and dialing the primary hero response line. She brought it up to her ear and listened to the phone ring. One ring and she had an operator.

"Hero emergency services what is your emergency?"

"This is Kokku with Assessment Clinic 455355, calling in a possible villain breach mid-testing, we have a monitored case who seems to have been singled out." She said as she made her way to the gymnasium, grabbing one of the two hundred pound barbell weights with her free hand.

"We've notified nearby agencies of the situation, who is in charge of the monitored case so we can send them a direct message?"  
Kokku pushed the door to the main medical area and saw a security team rushing to the washroom. "Careful, cameras went dark in there and we've got confirmation things are going wrong." She said, getting a nod from the team while she moved to the metal door. "Sorry, warning security, Gunhead is her monitor."

"Understood, we'll let him know, stay safe."

The line hung up and she tossed the phone. "Stay safe, sure, just as soon as I wreck this sadistic shit." She said, entering the door code.

Izuku blinked as her attempt at making a flower chain turned into the nurse standing over her with a ball-peen hammer, about to swing down. She also noticed there was an alarm ringing so she did what she thought was best. She threw herself out of the chair and rolled to her feet. "Um, there's an alarm going on, why are you still testing?"

The woman laughed and Izuku took up a fighting stance as the woman reached to her facemask. "Pretty things like you, so lucky... a zombification quirk and yet you practically look normal... tell me, zombie girl…" She said, then pulled her mask off to reveal a mouth that stretched all the way to her ears, her lips looked chewed off, revealing all of her teeth. "Am I still pretty!?"

"I'm not sure why that matters right now!" Izuku said she heard metal scraping on metal behind her. The woman threw the hammer at her and she ducked, only for the woman to pull out a pair of scissors and lunge at her. She was about to start using her training with Gunhead, treating the scissors like a knife when the door flew open and a barbell weight flew in like a frisbee. The woman stopped in her lunge but the barbell weight followed her. Izuku watched in a mix of fascination and guarded wariness as the weight caught up with the woman, slammed into the back of her knees, and then flew over her and just fell. The woman caught it, but having already dropped to her knees, her arms still collapsed from the sudden hard weight hitting them and flattened her onto her back. Then the weight seemed to press down on her. "Cool..."

"With a quirk like yours I'm surprised you like it, though really, the ability to levitate only one thing at a time, within ten feet, and only if you can carry it without assistance isn't the best telekinetic quirk in the world," Kokku said as she walked in, pressing the weight down with her telekinesis. "Are you all right kid?"  
Izuku prepared to answer only for the woman to throw the weight off her, despite Kokku's power holding it down. Kokku grimaced as the weight left her quirks range and the woman stood up. "Damn you're ugly, could you put the mask back on?"

The woman snarled and rushed straight at Kokku, who fell into a boxing stance.

* * *

Gunhead could honestly say he wasn't angry often, being a hero generally meant punting that anger out the door so you could act logically and mercifully. Killing villains while okay under certain circumstances was frowned upon and with a gun based power keeping casualties low wasn't always easy. Hand of Harmony had helped with that if he was honest, the guy was patient as they came, guess he had to be with a quirk that didn't help until five seconds into a fight. Gunhead prided himself in his patience and his tactical outlook in most situations.

However, now was one of those rare occasions a few of his sidekicks would see him angry, and he hoped he imparted a certain piece of wisdom with said anger. "Boys and girls, as of ten minutes ago a lockdown was called at the clinic Izuku is getting examined at. They called Emergency Response and gave our name, they're counting on us."

When a hero is angry, they must follow three rules.

"The Five of us are moving in to clear the place out, get Izuku and the other kids home, and see those villains either behind bars or in a padded cell." Gunhead said, and the Sidekicks nodded. First, a Heroes anger must not burn everything it touches, it must make all in it's path freeze at the mere sight.

"Hand of Harmony, you're to get to the security office with Calculator and Whisper, take command and use the clinics security to map out the objective." He said, the three thumping their chests. Second Rule, a Heroes anger does not spread untamed, wild, and without reason, it must be focused, directed, with no-one able to doubt it's purpose.

"Hummingbird, you're with me, first objective is the safety of the kids and clinic personnel. If so much as one person goes missing the entire agency is working overtime until they're found!" Gunhead said, each sidekick nodding then moving to get their gear. Third Rule, a Heroes anger does not is not a toxic cloud that blinds and kills them as much as it does everyone else, it is an executioners axe, coming down on the deserving and bringing everything to a close.

"Let's move people!"

* * *

Izuku watched as Kokku dodged and weaved between the woman's attacks, observing and waiting for her chance to help. She technically shouldn't but at the same time she couldn't just leave someone behind, therefore she had to help. Kokku, on the other hand, was wondering why Izuku wouldn't get out of the room already, the villain had done her homework and was keeping her from getting back within ten feet of the barbell weight, which left it out of her quirks range. She could pull on the weapons in the drawers but she couldn't be sure they'd have the right metals in them and a distraction with no result would be too dangerous.

That's when Izuku did the one thing Kokku was really hoping she wouldn't, and tackled the woman into the drawers, throwing their contents everywhere. "Damned brat!" Kokku said before running to the barbell, grabbing it with her quirk and turning back around to find the woman had pinned Izuku to the ground and was attempting to get the scissors into Izuku's mouth. Kokku felt anger burning in her and lined up the barbell weight. "Hey, Butterface!"

The woman turned just in time for the weight to strike her in the side, letting Kokku enjoy her face contorting in pain as she was flung off of Izuku and slammed into the shelves again. "Kid... that was the stupidest damn thing I think I've seen someone do... thanks," Kokku said as Izuku got up and patted herself down for injuries. She walked over to the woman who'd impersonated and possibly killed a nurse, one of her coworkers. "So, bitch, who the hell are you?"

"I am Hohoemu, remember it because it's the last name you will ever-"

Kokku stomped on her face, making Izuku squeak at the crunching noise that emanated from Hohoemu's face. "Great, thanks, bitch," Kokku said before taking a step back, the woman grabbed her face screaming from her crushed nose. "Alright Izuku, I need you to stay with me, we're evacuating the clinic and your monitor is on his way."

The woman started to laugh and Kokku glared at her before kicking her over so she was facing up and planting a foot against her chest. "What's so funny?" Kokku said, using her quirk once more to pick up the barbell and have it hover over the woman's arm. The woman just kept laughing despite the broken nose so Kokku decided to let the weight fall, the metal disk immediately snapping Hohoemu's face and making her scream. "I Said, what's so funny!?"

"That, you think any of you, are getting out," Hohoemu said, she had no lips but Izuku saw her cheeks turn up like she was attempting to smile and grin despite those parts missing from her face. "You think it's just me, that you're safe..."

The lights went out and the alarm turned off, making Kokku curse.

"None of you are getting out!"

* * *

In the girl's washroom, a guard was looking around in a panic, his coworkers were all dead and he wasn't sure what had killed them. The engineer had been found torn to pieces and when they tried to leave the door had slammed behind them and something blocked it. After that they seemed to get picked off one by one, all he'd seen was a flash of white before his friends were being flung around arms ripped off, legs were torn from under them, and chests pulled open.

He spun when he heard a footstep just for a little girl to grab his arm and pull. She grabbed his uniform and he prepared to strike her with his baton, only for her to throw him at the bathroom mirror, sharps flying in every direction as he bounced off the wall and hit the ground. Then he felt feet on his back and his legs being pulled, it hurt worse than hitting the wall. He wasn't sure when he started screaming but the moment his stopped feeling her weight on his back and only his hips hurt he try to stand only he couldn't, he just flopped forward. Something turned him over and he saw her again, blood all over her arms, face, and chest. She was wearing a very simple white dress, her hair black and dripping with blood as she stared down at him expressionlessly.

"Hikisaku, do let him go." He heard a beautiful voice say, and he looked to his side to see a woman crawling out of a large shard of glass on the ground, she had red hair tied up in an elaborate bun in a pure white Victorian dress. He looked at the girl as she walked off of him and saw his legs were missing. The pain was starting to fade away, and so were the colors. The woman stepped up to him and lifted him up, she was choking him as blood spilled from where his legs used to be. "After all... a handsome man should see a beautiful face as he dies."

She smiled serenely at him as if she wasn't strangling him, as if the world wasn't fading away, as if he wasn't getting so cold.

* * *

Hohoemu laughed as Kokku bound her wrists with the rope Izuku found in the baskets. "They mocked us, called us circus freaks, but she found us, saved us, and now we'll give them the circus they said we were destined for!"

* * *

Heishi screamed in the viewing room as the man on his back tore another chunk of his flesh off of his spine with his hook-like fingers. After Kokku bumped into him and taken the phone, he'd closed the door and started tearing into people before he could react. His baton hadn't helped, neither had his quirk, the ability to turn his arms into ribbons didn't do much against a man who could tear apart flesh. "Akaao Ronbon, I must say I didn't take you for a red paper man but once I saw that quirk I knew you were one." He said, continuing to strip the dying man of flesh.

* * *

"Soon, Everyone will fear Bloody Mary and our Circus of Horrors, you hear me!" Hohoemu said from the blood drawing chair she was tied to, Kokku closing the large metal door and smashing the keypad, causing the door to lock itself with no way to unlock it. Despite Izuku could still hear her laughing as Kokku grabbed her arm and started dragging her across the medical room.

Izuku gripped the knife in her hand tightly and hoped she was ready.

* * *

Hitoshi clenched his fist as he and the other examinees followed the nurse who had been overseeing their IQ exams as she tried to take them through the various halls and rooms without being noticed by the villains that had invaded the facility. _'Please be okay, Izuku.'_


	7. Down the Depths to Hell

_Circus of Horrors Arc, Part 3 : Down the Depths of Hell._

 ** _Warning, Graphic Scenes ahead. Izuku is hard to kill._**

* * *

Hitoshi wasn't one who got scared easily, he'd dealt with his share of bullies trying to scare him but learned quickly how to deal with them. They'd talk, he'd back mouth them, they'd get pissed and fall into his quirk and next thing they knew they'd be humping a wall or professing their love for bathing in all things belonging in a toilet.

He'd probably have gotten in trouble for the last one if the idiot hadn't been bragging before that he could break from Hitoshi's mind control, and didn't want to admit he couldn't.

That said, his natural tendency to find something to insult and act on it shorted out when the nurse leading them opened a door and in the middle of the room was an old woman with more wrinkles than a shar-pei and hair so thin it looked some someone had dropped a few spider webs on her head. She was dragging the corpse of one of the clinic workers onto a table and preparing to cut it open. That's when he saw the back of the woman's head open up to show a mess of sharp fangs, and Hitoshi felt his stomach fall.

The nurse tried to close the door but the hinge squeaked, resulting in the woman spinning around and seeing them. There was no mouth on the woman's face but he saw the skin around her eyes crinkle with excitement before she rushed at the nurse with a knife in hand. Tetsutetsu moved before he did, grabbing the nurse and turning his skin to metal. The knife scraped against his forearm as someone screamed 'Move!'. Hitoshi moved by throwing a fist out the woman's nose while Tetsutetsu grabbed her arm to keep her from attempting to slash anyone else. He felt her nose break and she started to scream, the back of her head opening up and her hair flying away from the voice.

As he pulled his hand back a staff came down on the woman's head and the old hag crumbled to the ground. Hitoshi took a step back and realized it hadn't been somebody, but his mind screaming at him to move after he'd frozen up. A quick turn of his head showed that it was Momo who'd formed and attacked with the staff, while Minoru's mouth was being covered by Tsubame. Roy and Osore were behind them with the nurse, who must have tripped while back up as it seemed she hit her head on the ground and was out cold.

Hitoshi took a deep breath, now the one person who knew the evacuation routes and exits wasn't able to help, and they didn't know what else was lurking. They needed a plan, a way to find Izuku, get out, and not die to whatever group of villains thought themselves good enough to attack a clinic of this size in broad daylight when All-Might had been spotted in town. Hitoshi looked in the room and saw there was no-one else, it looked like some sort of break room for the staff, complete with two televisions and a coffee machine.

"Tsubame, Tetsutetsu, move the bodies to the wall, respectfully, and see if there's anything to cover them. Osore, you said your quirk works with electronics, see if you can do anything using those televisions. Roy, Momo, see if you can't find any supplies we can use to defend ourselves, then see if anyone here brought a packed lunch, we'll have a better shot with full stomachs. Minoru, keep an eye out and let us know if anyone's coming this way while we're getting ourselves together." Hitoshi said, getting looks from everyone before they all nodded. He took the nurse over to the couch and set her down to rest and hopefully wake up before they had to do something stupid.

He then noticed Minoru stick the old hags arms behind her back by plucking the balls off his head. He kept note of that, they might need to trap the doors.

He might not know what to do, but that wouldn't stop him from trying, not with what was at stake.

Osore was a shy person, she was afraid of water after an incident as a child, and being unable to speak or call for help made scary situations all the worse because if she was alone no help would ever come. Momo had taken her being unable to talk in stride and helped her get the food she wanted when the three boys who couldn't manage a set seemed to focus on themselves, and Izuku didn't even seem to realize she hadn't said anything. Osore felt it had been a good day, only for everything to spiral downhill.

Then Momo took her hand and helped her when she started to slow down, she wasn't used to all this running. The nurse helped her stay calm even though her silence made it so she was the last person who they needed to worry about screaming. Now Hitoshi was taking control to try and figure something out since the nurse was unconscious. She looked at one of the televisions and dragged a table to it so she could reach it.

If what her mother had her read about electronics and wiring was true, it was possible this television would lead to a fuse box, which would lead to other televisions and screens. She could get to the security room and find a way out and find Izuku, all she had to do was push herself through the wires. She didn't know if she could do that, she'd never tried, her mother never let her try for fear she would get stuck. Fear had always ruled her life, if it was raining she stayed inside, if she didn't know what would happen she didn't act.

But now it was Izuku, her friend that was alone and was in danger. Izuku who just saw her as another person to smile with, to do makeup with even though Izuku didn't know how, who had lived with bullies yet still had her arms open for anyone to grab onto her. Osore put her hand into the television, a white ring of electricity forming as it always did when she entered or left a device, and she slipped in.

She might be afraid of what might happen, but that wouldn't stop her from trying, not with her friends at stake.

* * *

Gunhead was standing outside the clinic, police forces had already mobilized to solidify the perimeter around the clinic. That said more than most people thought, his agency trained in tactical and strategic heroics. Minimalize Risk, Maximize Results. As such they worked with the police more often than most realized, the police might not always have combat effective quirks but they were trained to take down threats. Each officer was trained in martial arts, each officer was trained in kendo, and each officer was trained with a handgun.

Each man and woman surrounding the clinic was fully capable of dropping a villain if the situation called for it, it was just less risky for a Hero to do it thanks to insurance policies and the higher percentage of combat-capable quirks to counter whatever quirks villains had. He'd take police backup over some agencies he worked with.

"What have we learned since I got the call from Emergency Response," Gunhead said as he walked up to one of the officers in the back of the perimeter. High collar ballistic vest with a tasset in the front and back, armbands, bracers, shin guards, and a helmet with a ballistic visor, same gear as each and every one of his coworkers with the only difference being a Sergeant on his back left shoulder in small print.

"From what we can get, this is a pretty big assault, when we called the security office no-one answered, so we can assume the entire building is compromised." The officer said, and Gunhead turned to Whisper, who nodded and went to call in additional help. He focused back on the officer. "The good news is that whoever they are, they aren't barricading the doors or trying to keep people out, the bad news is that means they want people to come in despite knowing they're there."

"They're confident enough to take on heroes, which means they either know who's coming or they have something they feel is strong enough not to need counter strategies. Not a lot of villains who can pull that solo, we're probably dealing with an organization" Gunhead said, getting a nod from the officer. "We called in more people to help in securing the perimeter, once they get here my team is going to breach and see about securing the main security room and the survivors. Who do you have with experience in hero support you can spare?"

The officer nodded and pulled his radio from his belt and started checking with various teams. As he did Gunhead took a look around to see if any heroes had already arrived, and was glad to note a few of them. Kamui Woods was using his quirk to help create barriers for the police to use as cover, while Mt. Lady and Air Jet were helping them get to areas they could use as sniper nests without having to climb flights of stairs. Death Arms and Fatgum were talking back and forth, possibly planning a breach of their own, he motioned for Hand of Harmony to make contact and see if they're willing to do a team up.

"Sir, when you're ready we have ten officers with experience joining heroes in situations of this nature who have volunteered to assist you, their squads are sending them over now."

"Good, keep up the good work," Gunhead said as Death Arms and Fatgum made their way over with Hand of Harmony. A defensive quirk, as well as a straight strength quirk, would make breaching a lot safer on everyone. "Alright, let's get to planning this out, Death Arms you go first, any ideas?"

* * *

Toshinori let out a deep breath as he sat in his couch with a glass of water in hand, still recovering from the beating Sorahiko dropped on him. He hadn't done any heroics yet today, he didn't want to push on the wounds and make things worse than they had to be. With that in mind, he knew he'd have to make an appearance. If the Symbol of Peace took days off villains might get cocky.

He winced a bit as his side complained about his lifting his arm to point the remote at the television and turn it on. Petty crime work would be simple but the time to find it might take its toll, so he decided to turn on the news and see if anything was happening, maybe a good police chase.

"-sment Clinic has been attacked by an unknown villain organization, who has made no demands but is effectively holding the clinic hostage. According to Law Enforcement, the villains seem to be using the hostages as bait in hopes of killing heroes!"

Well, damn, that was a bit bigger than a high-speed chase. The screen changed to an officer in full gear in front of a microphone and he grimaced, that meant it was a high-level threat.

"The villains do not seem to be guarding the building or preventing any teams from getting in, historically that means they want heroes to try and save the hostages so they can kill a few and make a name for themselves." The Officer on the screen said. "That this is also a Quirk Assessment Clinic means they're possibly after the quirks being tested, and plan to escape after those kills with the kids in tow."

Toshinori clenched the glass in his hand, situations like that are hard to fix successfully, even before his injuries he'd have to be careful. The screen moved back to the original reporter and he put his water down, part of him told him if he went to drink it, it'd be flying across the room.

"While we aren't able to get a list of the hostages, we do know that one of the children being examined has a monitor due to her unusual quirk, with said monitor preparing to lead the charge to rescue her and the other hostages. I for one expect these criminals will be brought in quickly with Pro-Hero Gunhead on the case."

Toshinori dropped his glass, monitored case, Gunhead... Izuku.

He stood up and ran out of his apartment, ignoring his wounds and getting to a nearby alley before unleashing One for All, turning into All-Might and jumping to the rooftops.

* * *

Kokku grabbed a barbell and one of the weights, using some of the rope Izuku had found in the drawers. She wondered why that had been in there one end had been tied into a knot so she figured to test blunt trauma. With a weight on her shoulder like a purse and a large metal rod in hand, she looked at Izuku, who was carrying a combat knife they'd found in the testing room. She was looking at her with a bit of fear of what was to come and readiness to follow her orders.

"Alright kid, listen up, we don't know how many people are in this Circus of Horrors but to get in and shut down security as hard as they did, we can assume enough to be very dangerous." She said, getting a nod from Izuku. She had to admit of all the students she was glad it was the little zombie, she was strong and as worried as she was for the girl, Gunhead had explained the girl was rather resilient. "Heroes are on their way which means we need to get somewhere safe or get ourselves out of here and I bet they've got people to ensure that doesn't happen."

Kokku put a hand on Izuku's head. "So, we're going to head to the secondary security room, I have the override to get us in despite the lockdown. We'll be able to use the cameras to lead anyone else who's still alive to safe zones and support the heroes when they break in."

Izuku opened her mouth to respond but Kokku shook her head. "No, I know you want to look for your friends, so do I but we're doing it safely, that means from the security room on the basement floor," Kokku said, not missing the irony of the fact that they were going into a basement to escape people trying to style themselves as old ghost stories. "Follow me, keep an eye out, and let's go."

Kokku grabbed Izukus arm and headed through the green door, there was thankfully no mess there, no-one had been in the room during the attack. She went over to the side door and opened it, revealing a stairway heading down.

Izuku followed after Kokku as she made her way down the stairs, her knife in hand. She was worried about Hitoshi, Tetsutetsu, Momo, Osore, and the other three examinees. She wanted to help them but Kokku was telling her the best way was to go to another room. What if they were in danger now, what if they needed help Now. Izuku contemplated running off but that would mean leaving Kokku alone too, and Katsuki had shown her enough horror movies when they were kids to know that's a bad idea.

She wasn't sure what to do, so she followed Kokku for now until she had a plan. First, she needed to understand the villains, once you know your obstacle you can plan against it. There was the nurse who lied about contacting her mother who seemed to have a quirk based around her mouth. She was out of commission as far as they knew but she mentioned a Bloody Mary and a Circus of Horrors. That they'd all been called freaks and belonged in a circus, so they would probably have quirks that affected their bodies in scary ways.

She didn't want to know what sort of mutation earned the name Bloody Mary.

Once they were at the bottom of the stairs Izuku saw the first sign of just how aggressive the people attacking them were. Propped up against the wall was a corpse with its chest torn open and its internal organs ripped apart. There was no face to make out, the front of the corpses head appeared to have been bitten off by a dog, with a cavity where the rest of the brain should be.

Izuku dropped the knife and leaned forward, releasing only a bit of stomach acid and spit as they hadn't had breakfast yet, and Kokku gave her a moment. Once Izuku had stopped Kokku grabbed her by the wrist once more and opened the door leading out of the stairway. "Kid, close your eyes." She said, Izuku could already seem the blood and did as Kokku said, letting the woman lead her by her wrist through the room, Izuku just having enough time to grab the knife again.

She heard a door open then the sound of something heavy flying through the air, Izuku opened her eyes to see the weight Kokku had grabbed from the gym flying towards a man covered in black fur, two curved horns sprouting above his ears, and a dog-like snout. The weight hit him but rather than topple him over he just flinched and bent forward, as if he'd merely been punched in the gut. There was a snarl and Izuku's feet moved before she could come up with a plan.

She heard Kokku shout and saw the weight rising up to strike the wolfman again, the villain instead slammed it out of the way and dropped to all fours. Her mind went to what Gunhead had told her about people with animal quirks after going over knife combat.

 _"Sometimes people have animalistic quirks, and they're bound to use them. When they do focus on the immediate threat, which will most likely be either their fangs or their claws."_

She kept running forward as the wolfman leaped forward and brought his clawed hands to grab or slash her, she didn't know. She moved to the side and dropped the knife, grabbing the villains left arm instead then anchoring her feet to spin.

 _"Once you know what the immediate threat is, disable it, for example, if it's their fangs shove something in their mouth like a stick or rod. If it's their claws grab an arm."_

She spun herself and took the villain with her, a surprised bark coming from his mouth as she used the momentum to move his arm over her shoulder. She shouted and continued moving, shoulder tossing the villain over her head and slamming him into the ground, a loud yipe of pain as his back bounced off the ground.

 _"Once you have the stick in their mouth or their arm in your hand, bring them to the ground hard and disorientate them so you can tie them up or knock them unconscious if you have no method to capture."_

While the villain groaned Izuku turned and swung the villain before letting him go, sending the wolfman across the room through a number of tables and chairs. It crossed Izuku's mind they were probably in a cafeteria where they would have had breakfast following the first tests of the day. Realizing what sort of objects she might have she grabbed one of the chairs.

Before she could continue the weight Kokku was using flew in front of her and then towards her, pressing against her belly and pulling her back to Kokku, who pulled the chair from her hands. "Relax kid, he's down!" Kokku said, who wasn't quite sure what she'd just seen. Izuku breathed heavily, her mind still racing and telling her to make sure the villain was down. Kokku picked the girl up by wrapping her arms around her stomach. "You got him..."

Izuku found herself calming down, she didn't hear any noise from the villain and relaxed. Kokku put the Izuku down and looked over at the villain, first a woman with a slit open and then chewed off mouth, now a wolfman. Neither of them seemed to be any good, the first one was too focus on Izuku for some reason and the second had telegraphed himself enough that Izuku was able to counter him. As far as Gunhead had told her she was getting biweekly lessons from the man so she was hardly an expert, just clever.

Kokku decided to think on it another time. "Come on, we need to keep moving, you just made a lot of noise," Kokku said, joking softly to try and keep Izuku from stressing out too much or having a panic attack.

Izuku nodded and Kokku led her through the cafeteria.

* * *

Hitoshi felt a bit bad as he bit into a simple ham and cheese sandwich, the fridge in the breakroom had been rather full of lunch bags. That meant there was a lot of people but despite the nurse having led them here before she was taken out of commission, no-one else had arrived. They were most likely dead.

Minoru turned out to be more than just a pervert, which he was thankful for, he'd used his quirk to pop off multiple sticky spheres from his head and restrained the old hag of a villain with them. He was also rather quick to panic but seemed to be controlling himself better now than he had when everything started. Osore hadn't come out of the television, yet, but she had made a few words on the screen to state she was mapping out the wiring of the building. She explained it felt weird moving through wires, but she wasn't feeling any pain yet.

He took that as a plus, maybe she could let the heroes know where they were once the heroes made their way in.

Momo had used her quirk to make a metal board and jam it under the handle so it wouldn't open, then made each of them a simple knife just in case. She was smart and once a basic plan of hiding in the room until the heroes arrived formed she took control. She was good at it and Hitoshi let her without trying to start a fight.

Tetsutetsu was eating a Tupperware container full of rice, beans, and cubes of steak, getting as much iron in his system as he could. If someone broke through that door his quirk was best suited to stand at the front and he wanted as much as he could get. It wasn't warm, they hadn't bothered with the microwaves, but it was better than nothing and he was thankful.

He also worried about Izuku, according to Osore she hadn't seen her yet but she hadn't seen any corpses that looked like her yet either. Tetsutetsu knew she was strong but she was also just a teenager, they were all just teenagers but at least he wasn't alone. He clenched the fist around the plastic spoon he was using thinking about it.

Minoru was expecting a smooth simple set of exams when he arrived, wanting to prove to them his quirk was strong enough for the hero course just as he knew it was. He knew he'd gone a bit overboard on day one when the zombie girl asked the guy with purple hair, Hitoshi, to brainwash her. He knew what he wanted and he wasn't always the best at keeping it contained, he knew all of that. Roy and Tsubame weren't half bad, they spoke with him during dinner and didn't ignore him after his comment. Then came the first test of the day, an IQ test to see how they did after having time to wake up but no food, see if they would be able to handle being hungry in the events of an emergency only for there to be a Real Emergency.

He thought he'd be ignored, but instead when it came down to it when he had ideas they listened. Tetsutetsu had helped him put the woman who attacked them on the ceiling and Momo put him in charge of setting up traps in the room for them to fall back behind. She even rolling up her shirt right in front of him, showing him her beautiful stomach, to make a few of the things he needed like duct tape and an airsoft gun.

They even smiled at him when he came up with the idea of setting up a line of his balls just an inch beyond where the door swings so people would get stuck at the doorway and block off other villains from getting in. He'd even started to have a panic attack when Hitoshi took a moment to talk with him and help him calm down, despite the bad interaction at first.

Minoru clenched his fist then pointed at the ceiling. "Okay, Tsubame, help me get up there, Roy, grab the table, some of the rope Momo made, and a rod, we're making a pendulum trap!"

* * *

Gunhead and his team had a plan, Death Arms, Hand of Harmony, and Fatgum would do the initial breach with four of the officers covering them, Gunhead, Whisper, Calculator, and Hummingbird would come in with the other six officers. Once they secured the waiting room they'd split into two groups.

Hand of Harmony, Fatgum, Whisper, and Calculator would take four officers to the security room while he took Death Arms and Hummingbird to start working through the rooms trying to find survivors with the remaining officers. With that in mind, Gunhead readied his quirk and Death Arms ripped the front doors from their hinges.

Fatgum moved after him but blinked when no attacks came or traps were set off. The team moved further in and found the waiting room empty, Death Arms snorted. "Well, at least they're making it easy." He said, and Gunhead glared at the doors in front of them. He had a point, it shouldn't be this easy. Still, deviating from the plan now wouldn't be helpful.

"Team A, get to security and take control, I want to know how many we're dealing with and just what sort of aggression we're dealing with. Until we've gotten a read everyone is to open with non-lethal to warn, then lethal if aggression continues." Gunhead said, Hand of Harmony, Fatgum, Whisper, and Calculator nodding before they went through the main doors. Gunhead followed after them, separating and heading towards the gymnasium. Soon he felt Whispers quirk brush his mind.

"Link operational, everyone check in," Whisper said through his quirk, it was a form of telepathy, it allowed people to talk to Whisper and for Whisper to talk to them, making him a good alternative to radios. The only problem even if he connected to multiple people, you could only hear and talk to Whisper.

"Gunhead here." He said and heard Death Arms and Hummingbird voice their connection as well.

"All Links check out, Team A is making a beeline towards security, we'll let you know before we enter."

"Stay sharp," Gunhead said as Death Arms moved to the Gymnasium door. The man gave the door a tug and then opened it normally. Gunhead found himself getting annoyed and anxious, the facility shouldn't be this easy to enter, it should be on lockdown. That's when he heard footsteps, small ones. Death Arms got his arms up in a general boxing stance while Hummingbird started to bend his knees and lower his center of gravity.

They moved into the room and Gunhead felt the guns in his arms and hands tense, ready to let loose a hail of bullets. "Someone here?" Gunhead said, but there wasn't a verbal response, just more footsteps, then air rushing around something. 'Move' His mind screamed and he leaped to the left, rolling away as something hit the ground, he could hear Death Arms's kiai shout but not his fist hitting flesh. Gunhead righted himself and saw cracks on the ground in front of where he was before he'd moved.

"Anyone see what did that?" Gunhead said, only to hear wind whistling again. He spun and held a hand out to grab whatever it was. He made out black hair and a white dress before something hit his arm from underneath. He grit his teeth, whatever her quirk was she hit Hard. She kept bringing her arm up and with it exposing his shoulder, he saw her cock back her other fist to strike. She was training, she wanted his shoulder out of commission and then he'd be screwed.

Death Arms was on her before she could swing, and he watched her disengage from him and jump away from the man's punch. "Full body strength enhancement?" Death Arms said, and Hummingbird shook his head.

"No, more than that, where'd she-" Hummingbird said, only to be interrupted when the girl landed behind him. Gunhead saw her eyes for a moment before her hair fell back down and she planted a kidney shot on Hummingbird, throwing him across the gym in the process. She then curled as if to run before she disappeared and landed on top of him, grabbing his arm and twisting it behind him. He could hear the bones crack from across the room.

He aimed his fist at her and activated his quirk, keratin bullets flying. He noticed she started to move the moment he did and grimaced as pieces clicked in his head. The bullets flew but she was already moving, out of the four rounds fired from his hand only one found purchase, hitting her arm. He froze as she screamed, the sound echoing off the walls. Then the green door on the other side of the Gymnasium was flung open and he noticed a trail few drops of blood between Hummingbird and the door.

"Okay... the hell was that?" Death Arms said quietly as the officers moved to check on Hummingbird. Gunhead brought his arm up and looked at what she'd countered his initial attack, bruise already starting to form, possible fracture from the force of the blow.

"A very well trained blind girl who could hear me move my arm across the room, and possibly the muscles in my arm preparing to fire," Gunhead said, clenching his hand a couple times. The pain was ignorable but he'd need to be careful not to let it get hit like or his left radial would probably snap. "Hits like a truck too, either by body enhancement or some sort of shockwave quirk."

"Damn, you alright?"

"Not yet, I will be when we've got the kids out of here," Gunhead said as Hummingbird stood back up and walked over to them, Gunhead had to give him credit, Kidney shot across the room and arm twisted until the bones snapped and the pain doesn't stop him from moving yet. "Hummingbird, head outside and let the officers know what sort of power we're dealing with, then call the agency and tell them to bring in the heavyweights."

"Dropping the formalities?" Death Arms said as Hummingbird thumped his chest with his good arm and headed out.

"Something like that," Gunhead said as the team headed to the green door to follow after the villain. 'Don't worry Izuku, I'm on my way.'

"My my, such beautiful men come to our circus dear, they don't seem to like your act though."

'Oh great, we're dealing with one of those villains. Couldn't these types just go work for the local theater or something?' Gunhead thought to himself as a woman in a white, Victorian dress looked at the wound his quirk left on the girl. He felt bad for a moment, he didn't like hurting young villains, that said it was hardly the first time he'd ever done it. Her skin was glossy as if she'd put on a heavy amount of make-up, her entire face shined like porcelain. Her hair shined as well, and he wondered how long it took to get her outfit together plus makeup and hair products to get that shiny. "I take it you're in charge then."

The woman spun towards him, her face serene as if she didn't care she was facing off against two pro-heroes and six officers armed to the teeth. She took a few steps back onto a shard of glass, no, a mirror shard. "Such handsome men, no wonder you could not handle them alone, you're just a girl... I will join you in this dance Hikisaku."  
Gunhead brought his right arm up to fire his quirk, only for the woman to fall into the mirror shard and Hikisaku to lunge forward with one arm forward to guard her face, the other cocked back to strike. Death Arms got in her way, grabbing her and throwing her into the air, as Gunheads eyes followed her he noticed something else. There were mirror shards all over the room, some hung up on strings, caught in the curtains, seemingly glued to the walls and ceiling. A set of arms caught Hikisaku and dragged her into one of the mirror shards, then she reappeared through a shard directly in front of them, nearly catching Death Arms with a palm strike to the nose if the man hadn't caught the small hand in his own and thrown her away from them.

A slice by a gurgle and shouts of anger. Gunhead turned and saw the woman in the dress in the middle of the officers, a mirror shard in her hand as she pulled it from an officers neck. She disappeared into the shard in her hand and it fell to the ground. He growled and put his back against Death Arms. "So, super strength and a warp quirk... thoughts?" Death Arms said, and Gunhead scowled under his mask

"Watch your everything, counter where you can, hope for the best," Gunhead said as the police moved to the entrance of the room so they could keep an eye on every shard.

 _'Hold on Izuku...'_

The girl jumped out of a shard towards him, and he moved to catch her arm.

* * *

Osore navigated the wires as she felt herself pulled through them and was slowly getting a feel for it. It felt weird, like she was all over, bent and turned and spun in a corkscrew, as if she was every single wire all at once, she felt where the wires were faulty but they didn't hurt. She'd found a second security room and, from there, saw Izuku and Kokku were okay. She wanted to go to them but the security cameras were too small. The wiring in the building gave her enough room to move but to leave the wires she needed to leave into an object with enough room for her.

It frustrated her but at least they were safe, she continued to scout the building, eventually finding a screen to look through. She was in the main security room and saw corpses all over, torn apart and strangled. She also saw heroes looking over the room with one looking at a screen, they weren't looking up though and a villain was making their way towards one from the ceiling. She only saw him because the screens were tilted up.

She moved to the screen the hero was looking at and started forming letters in the pixels.

Hand of Harmony was confused, every hallway on the upper floor was empty, as far as he could tell the security room had been massacred and they moved on. The screens showed a fight in the medical room, Gunhead and Death Arms were in trouble, he prepared to move in to assist when the screen went black save for two words of white pixels.

 **ABOVE YOU!**

He didn't question it, he just moved and thanked whatever program was in the computers as a villain crashed down from above him. The man seemed annoyed as he'd moved as Fatgum lunged over the computers to strike the man. He spun and he watched as hooks dug into Fatgums fist and the man slammed him into the computers.

"You're not supposed to Move, you're supposed to be still and let me help you!" The man said as he lifted his other arm, Hand of Harmony moved to stop him, grabbing his arm and letting his quirk activate. He saw the man on the going to slash at his face, the computer was behind him with the words **CLOSER** on it. The man headbutted him and his quirk showed him another scene, the screen said **NOW** and he was about to slam his palm into the man's chest, but he seemed to have his left eye closed. "I'll dress you all in the finest cloaks of red!"

He released his quirk from showing him further visions and stepped back as Fatgum freed himself from the man's hook-like fingers. The man spun on him, breathing heavily as Calculator sat at a computer, trying to enter the system and start locking down rooms the villains were in, divide them before they could harm whoever might be left. Whisper stayed on the opposite side of the room, keeping his quirk active in the event he had to let Gunhead know they'd failed.

Hand of Harmony dodged to his right as the man took a swing at him, putting the villain between himself and the computer before countering by kicking at his legs. The villain jumped back and the words showed up, **CLOSER**. He looked back at his opponent and moved to guard against the mans strike, he was a moment slow though and the mans claws dug into his face, the vision in his left eye went black and he lashed out with his palm, planting it in the mans chest as the word **NOW** showed up on the screen.

The word was suddenly replaced with a white circle and two blue arms, a child's arms, burst from the screen and grabbed the man. They pulled back into the screen and dragged the mad backward in the process, combined with his strike the man lost his balance. The back of his head hit the screen and Fatgum took the chance to punch the villain in the gut, the villain vomiting from the force of the hit. Hand of Harmony grabbed the villains head as Fatgum pulled his fist back and then swung his head into the opposite desk. The villain went limp at that point and Hand of Harmony pulled a set of cuffs from his aikidogi, snapping them over the man's wrists.

Fatgum pulled a set of bandages from his jacket and started to wrap his hand. He looked at the screen which stayed black, no arms sticking out of it. Then the arms showed up and grabbed the desk along with the white ring on the screen. Fatgum prepared to strike whatever came out when a girl of fifteen pulled herself out, blue skin, black hair to her elbows and a set of white gym clothes. She looked scared but hopeful, and so he held his hand out, pulling her out from the screen. "Well, hello, are you one of the examinees?" He said, the girl nodded and he reached back into his belt, pulling out a package of animal crackers. She took them gently and nodded her thanks. "Do you know where the others are?"

She nodded again and ran through the room before tapping a screen. Hand of Harmony walked over to her and looked at the screen, it said 'Breakroom, Basement level' and showed the examinees with an unconscious nurse, seemingly preparing for a fight with traps, spheres on the ground, and weapons he wasn't sure they would have known where to get. "Looks like most of the examinees are at the breakroom in the basement, not sure why but they have an unconscious nurse." He said, and Whisper nodded, already repeating the information. "What about Izuku?"

Osore looked at the hero and then shrugged, then mimed taking a picture with a camera, then pointed at her eyes before holding up her left arm and making her right index and middle fingers run across it. "You saw her using the cameras running around?" Hand of Harmony said, and Osore nodded. Whisper repeated this as well, and Osore pointed at herself, then the screen showing the basement breakroom. "Yes, go let your friends know we're coming, Whisper is relaying this information to the heroes outside, they'll be coming to assist us soon."

She grinned and climbed onto the desk, then moved into the computer and navigated the wires until she was back in the breakroom. Hitoshi spun as Osore stepped out of the television and onto the table. She looked happy and he walked up to her. "Osore, what's happening." He said, and she started flexing, then punching the air, then started pointing down excitedly. A fight, fighting, and happiness. "The heroes are on their way here?"

She grinned and started jumping, and he grinned as the other examinees cheered. "We're going to be saved, we're going to be saved!" He heard Minoru cheering, his voice sounded wet, he was crying. Hitoshi checked his cheeks and found he as crying too.

"Wait, what about Izuku!?" Tetsutetsu said. "Did you see her too!?"

* * *

Kokku pushed herself to her knees, then back onto her feet just in time to watch the man between them and the hallway to the security room threw Izuku across the bloody and corpse ridden dojo. Izuku hit the wall and dropped to the ground, groaning in pain and the man started to move towards her. He had red skin, stood a good eight feet tall, and was built like a tank, his hands easily large enough to wrap around her arm.

Said arm was currently crushed, hanging limply at her side. Despite this, she raised the barbell weight with her quirk and flung it at the man to get him Away from Izuku. They'd been stuck trying to get past the ogre of a man since they left the cafeteria and entered into this room and nothing was working. When it started she'd launched the weight but he just hit it away with the metal club in his hands, the same club he'd discarded after he found he could just throw the weight back at her in her current condition. The weight struck the mans arms and he rubbed it, then looked at her and grinned, moving towards her as she got on her feet and prepared to meet him.

She looked at Izuku who was starting to get up and hoped she would run, then back at the villain and grabbed the barbell rod and swung it as best she could. The ogre grabbed the rod and pulled it from her, then slammed it across her face, her world spun and she tasted a sudden rush of blood and bone in her mouth. Her jaw was in agony and she felt it hang loose, blood and teeth falling out of her open mouth and onto the floor. She turned her head up at the ogre and glared while he just grinned down at her and held the rod up to impale her.

Then she looked in horror as Izuku jumped onto the ogres back and Bit into his neck, ripping flesh from his and coating her face and the man's shoulder in blood. The villain howled and reached over, pulling Izuku off his back and holding her by her neck, his fingers around her shoulders, chin, and mouth. She took advantage and kept biting, tearing into him as he tilted her sideways and grabbed her legs. She tried to stand up and strike him only to slip on her own blood, his fingers tightened around her legs and she watched him trying to pull her in half, she could hear bones dislocating and Izuku screaming into the man's hand, forearms flailing in attempts to strike him. Kokku's finally got herself up and onto her feet when she heard flesh tearing, looking up just in time to see the poor girl ripped in half, blood spraying onto Kokku's face as her intestines dropped to the ground.

He squeezed the two halves, blood squirted from Izuku's torn stomach, hips, and mouth, soaking Kokku before the villain finally dropped her crushed and torn body. and Kokku saw red, screaming as she felt her quirk pick up something new to lift in her rage. She latched onto it and flung it at the ogre not caring what it was. Her head felt like it was going to explode with the amount of pressure on the top of her head along with her ruined jaw and the ogres metal club flew from its place against the wall and slammed into the ogres head, flinging him off of his feet. The pressure just kept getting worse but she lifted the club into the air and brought it down again, and again, and again until the club came back up red.

Suddenly she fell, her vision darkening as she watched Izuku's body seemingly inflate back to a normal shape as muscles slithered across the ground and back to her legs, pulling her back together. She tried to smile as Izuku's body was put back together, and then closed her eyes.

Izuku blinked as vision returned to her, and lifted herself up to a sitting position, then back onto her feet to fight the ogre again, to keep him off of Kokku. Once she was on her feet she saw the ogre groaning, preparing to get back up as Kokku laid her a pool of blood, her jaw nearly torn from her face. Her clothes were torn and soaked in blood, and Izuku went to her, trying to put her jaw back in place. She saw water drop onto the woman's cheek and wash away a bit of the blood, she brought a hand up and felt tears. Then she felt anger, rage, and took off her workout shirt, using a clean spot to wipe the blood off of Kokku's face. She stood up and looked around, finding the ogres club.

"It hurrrrts… Mary, it hurts..." He said as Izuku put both hands on the club, she felt her arms straining to lift it but she was able to lift it, and she wasn't tired. "Maaaarrry."  
Izuku let the club hit the ground and turned around before lifting it over her head and swinging it down on the ogre's chest. He coughed and she dragged it off his chest before spinning herself to swing the club around, back over her head, and down, this time she hit his stomach and a mix of blood and flesh shot out from the ogre's mouth, spraying both of them. Izuku screamed and did it again, repeating the action as she screamed until her lungs were empty, her mouth forming wordless screams with no air to speak them with. She brought the club down over and over again. She wasn't sure when the ogre stopped moving, or when she starting bringing pieces of bone, flesh, and internal organs with her when she dragged the club off of the ogre. Eventually, the muscles in her arm were so torn from the repeated motions that she couldn't lift the club anymore, and she fell to her knees. She pulled herself over the Kokku and held her corpse, crying in the dead woman's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

* * *

Gunhead grit his teeth as the girl appeared in front of him and buried a fist into his gut. The Police officers had gotten the idea of shooting the fragments on the ceiling and walls, limit the movement of the woman and the child. It helped predict where the two were going to come from and it was making the woman angry. Hikisaku didn't seem to notice but the constant gunfire must be filling her senses as she was getting sloppy in her attempts to defend herself.

He grabbed her arm before she could pull her arm back and retreat to a mirror shard. "Sorry about this kid." He said before making a fist with his free hand and driving it into her jaw, the force snapped her head to the side and she went limp, unconscious from the blow. Death Arms moved around him and grabbed her, grabbing her other arm as Gunhead let go of her, tossing her across the room so the officers could cuff her without risk of the mirror woman, who had eventually given her alias up as Bloody Mary. She left a mirror in an attempt to catch the girl but Gunhead brought his right arm up and fired, putting four keratin bullets into the woman's side, who screamed and missed her chance to grab the girl, instead of diving into a different fragment.

An officer caught the girl and put on a pair of quirk nullifying cuffs on her wrist. Gunhead straightened his posture a bit and put his left hand beside his mouth. "It's just you now, Bloody Mary, come out and surrender yourself and we'll get you medical attention, there's no doubt in my mind those rounds hit vital organs." Gunhead said, and heard a pain filled scream of rage echo from the mirror shards. He saw the police raise their guns and Death Arms reach over to him as the screams stopped coming from the mirrors but from behind him. He ducked to give the officers a clear shot and they opened fire.

"Damn it, she went into another shard." Death Arms said. They waited for her to reappear but she didn't, and after a bit they started to use their feet to sweep the shards on the floor into one area. "Alright, you guys keep an eye on those shards, we're heading into the basement to find the kids."  
The officers nodded, forming a perimeter around the shards with one of them watching their backs in case the missed a piece. Gunhead and Death Arms looked over their wounds as they walked, both of them were littered with cuts and bruises, and Gunhead as fairly certain he'd accidentally broken his own left arm when he punched Hikisaku.

"Alright, according to Whisper most of the kids are in the break room, once we get downstairs you take a left to get to that part of the building, I go right to head to the secondary security room, Calculator found some files stating that's the room they arere to take examinees in the event of an attack," Gunhead said, and Death Arms nodded.  
They descended the stairs and Death Arms nearly puked at the sight of the main hall in the basement, it was set up like some sort of cannibal marketplace. Whisper said there was a lot of criminals but Calculator had locked them up by setting the rooms they were in to lockdown. They also said that the camera to the dojo, the room between the security room and the cafeteria off the main hall was broken. _'I'm coming Izuku, I'm on my way... Inko must be going insane out there waiting for someone to bring her child out'_

The cafeteria was pretty torn up, and he saw a werewolf with horns starting to pick himself up. He grabbed a nearby chair and smashed it over the villains head, he'd met that staff before he left, that wasn't one of them. His presence also meant Izuku had probably fought, and he quickly cuffed the man before heading to the next room.  
In the middle of a room filled with half-eaten corpses and the pulped remains of what he imagined was the villain who'd attacked them, was Izuku. She was covered head to toe in stitches and blood, her shirt missing revealing a once dark green sports bra was holding the corpse of the woman who he'd watched put the examinees through their paces on the first day, crying into her shoulder. He bit back the need to vomit, he'd break down later, Izuku needed a rock to latch onto and cry on, she needed help first.

She looked up at him, face stained with blood and crisscrossed with stitches and he went over to her. "Let me, we'll get her out of here." Gunhead said as he scooped up the woman's body and cradled her as if she was still alive, he then kneeled down and Izuku climbed onto his back, her arms around his neck. "Come on, it's time to go home."

He carried her to the main hall and to the stairway, where he caught up with Death Arms and the other kids. Three of them cried out Izuku's name and nearly ran down the stairs but Gunhead shook his head. "Not here, let's get out of this mess first." He said, and the kids all nodded.

Hitoshi felt his stomach turn to lead when he saw Izuku, bathed in blood, on Gunheads back. She had clear marks on her face where her tears had cleaned away the blood, her hair was matted down with it and she seemed to just be staring into space. With Kokku in Gunheads arms he figured out what had happened, they had been alone and instead of acting like the heroes they wanted to be they hid away and waited for heroes to save them. He'd find a way to apologize, the first step to that would be getting into UA along with her, he wouldn't hide in the shadows again.

Tetsutetsu wanted to scream once he saw Izuku's face, soaked in blood and stitches. He should have gone looking for her but instead he'd just hid away and waited to be saved. His jaw clenched and his knuckles popped with how tightly he held his fists, she had been all alone, her and the gym coach and because they were alone one of them didn't make it. 'What kind of hero am I supposed to be if I let down a friend.' He thought to himself, and then punched the wall next to him. He would be a hero, he'd make up for this somehow, he'd never let something like this happen again.

Momo held a hand under her shirt, using what little she had left to spar to form a cleaning cloth. She pulled it out and slowed her stride to walk next to Gunhead. He saw what she wanted to do and leaned slightly towards her, and Momo began to wipe the blood from Izuku's face. There was a wetness on her cheeks as well, then she hiccuped, and then the dam broke and she started sobbing. Izuku looked so dead, her eyes staring at nothing, her face littered with stitches, her hair soaked in blood. Why didn't they go looking for her, Osore had said she saw them, they could have gone after her and taken them to the room they were hiding in but they didn't. She didn't think to do it, why didn't she think to go Save Her Friend... she was afraid, she was so afraid for herself she forgot about her friend. She wiped her eyes to prevent herself from tripping as they walked. She promised herself she would not be afraid again, next time her friends wouldn't be left alone because she couldn't act.

Minoru wanted to be a hero because he thought it was cool, that he'd get to save lives and get lots of beautiful girls at the same time. Then the villains attacked and he panicked, he had to be led to safety and once he was there he sat down and waited to be saved. All he did was plant a few traps that never got used and gave reasons to stay put and wait to be saved rather than look for other survivors and make sure they were safe too. He looked over at the zombie girl, no, Izuku, and the pretty coach who died because they'd run into danger they could have led them away from, and he didn't feel very cool.

Osore silently cried as they made their way out of the clinic and the Police came in around them to get into the clinic and further secure the building. There was also camera flashes. She looked over at Izuku and felt her heart shatter, she'd found her friend, she knew where she was and instead of doing something to point her to safety she just assumed they'd be safe and kept exploring her powers. Yes, she'd helped the heroes but that was After she'd found Izuku, she could have let her know where the others were, she should have. She heard the others talk about UA, she wasn't sure she belonged there but they said it's where heroes were trained... she never wanted to fail her friends again, she wanted to save them so this never happened again. She wanted to be a hero.

Toshinori stood across the street from the clinic, staring as Izuku and the others were brought out, along with a corpse of one of the staff. He'd failed to make it in time to stop her from getting hurt, again. He heard as the girl's mother screamed and managed to force her way past the police and run to her daughter, who was riding on Gunheads back. This couldn't keep happening, he couldn't just let One for All be wasted on him anymore. He needed a successor, now.

He pulled out his phone and dialed Sir Nighteye, he couldn't ask her to succeed him after he hurt her, and then failed to protect her.

* * *

Bloody Mary walked out into the street, dress in a set of dark grey sweatpants and a black hoodie. Her plan had failed, cost her everyone. She joined the crowd of onlookers and watched as they brought out a girl covered in stitches and soaked in blood looking blankly ahead, emotionally exhausted, next to her stood a blue skinned girl with beautiful black hair and a wonderfully sad look on her face. She smiled and broke from the crowd, she needed to find a working television, listen to the news.

Put a pair of names on those pretty dolls just begging to be put to use.


	8. Family and Therapy, Blood and Beauty

_Circus of Horrors Arc, Part 4 : Family and Therapy, Blood and Beauty._

 **Warning : Graphic Scenes Ahead.**

* * *

Gunhead was surprised when Inko Midoriya invited him in after he'd escorted them home, he'd half expected her to rage at him for taking her daughter to that facility. They both knew what the stitches meant, they realized how badly she'd been hurt. He clenched his fist as the memory of her crying in a room of butchered corpses surfaced. He'd been far too late, maybe if he hadn't waited for the heroes at his agency to reinforce the perimeter before moving in he could have arrived before they'd been torn apart.

Inko put a hand on Gunheads shoulder and led him to the table, he sat down and his face fell into his hands. She knew he'd tried to protect her, to help her find her limits and become stronger. He was a strong person but given how Izuku looked and how badly beaten the body of her instructor at the clinic looked, she wasn't sure just being strong would be enough. She headed to the kitchenette and put a kettle of water on the stove, turning the heat up to get it boiling. Next to her on the counter was a handheld two-way radio, from it the two of them could hear a running shower.

Izuku curled her knees to her chest, her arms limp at her side and water pouring down from the showerhead. The water was warm but it felt cold to her as it washed the blood from her body, streaks of red forming in the bottom of the tub and racing towards the drain. Her hair clung to her neck and face covering her left eye but not her right, which started at the blood as it swirled down the drain. She choked back as she remembered wiping off Kokku's face only for more blood to spill from her eyes, nose, and ruined jaw. Next to the sink was the other handheld two-way radio.

Inko took out a set of teacups and brought them to the kettle, waiting for a bit. Once the kettle started to whistle, she poured the hot water into the teacups to warm them up before putting the pot back on the stove. Gunhead looked up and saw Inko walk over to a small tea bush and start plucking leaves before going back to the kettle and dropping them into the boiling water. Inko then dumped out the water from the cups and brought the cups over to the table first, then went back and brought the kettle.

Gunhead took off his mask and set it on the ground next to him as she held the kettle up and poured the freshly brewed tea into the two cups. He took one and just held it, feeling the warmth in his hands. He'd only known the Midoriyas for a couple of weeks and was pretty sure Inko had been trained religiously in how to make green tea, it just tasted right. He wasn't sure if he could stomach it all the same, as rude as it would be to say no he also failed to keep her daughter safe.

"I don't blame you," Inko said, and Gunhead looked up at her.

"You should, I took her there, my agency did a investigated the clinic going as far as to question the employees directly, and we still failed to see it was about to be compromised." He said, and Inko looked at him with pain filled eyes, if he hadn't known better he'd have gotten up and checked her for wounds. Her cheeks were stained with tear marks, her eyes were bloodshot.

"What happened wasn't your fault," Inko said, bringing a hand to her cheek and wiping away a fresh tear with her thumb. She brought her cup to her lips and took a sip of her tea, she didn't give any reasoning, she didn't explain further. The cup left her lips and she placed it back on the table, looking down at her reflection in the tea. Gunhead looked at his own tea and took a sip as well.

"I had someone talk with UA, they might be a high school but being the best they have connections. They'll be reaching out to various heroes to create a nationwide manhunt for Bloody Mary." Gunhead said, and Inko nodded. Silence returned to the Midoriya apartment, only the sound of a shower running and the clicking of their cups against the table after they took a drink of the tea Inko had made.

Gunhead sighed through his nose. "With the attack having been as... bad, as it was, my agency has offered the other families professional help for their children." He said, and Inko turned from her cup to him. "As Izuku is already my charge through the Monitor system, rather than an offer it's something that's already in the agenda so with your permission I'd like to increase the frequency of her check-ups."

"I think she'd like that," Inko said before a sobbing sound came from the two-way radio, Inko stood up from the table as did Gunhead. He reached for his mask as she made her way to the bathroom. He listened to Izuku cry over the radio, Inkos voice soon trying to comfort her as the shower as turned off. Making a decision he left the Midoriya residence and made his way onto the street.

He needed information on this 'Bloody Mary' as well as some stress relief. That meant it was time to hit the streets and start investigating, working with other heroes to bring Bloody Mary down. He brought his cell out, he didn't like the man he was about to call but damn if he didn't get results. He entered the number and brought it to his ear, it rang three times before the man picked up.

"Endeavor speaking."

"It's Gunhead, thought you'd like some info on a villain who managed to get herself a rather high headcount. Big mess, lots of PR possibilities for taking her down."

There was silence, then the sound of paper and a pen click. "I'm listening."

Gunhead leaned up against his car, he would probably have to come back for it as he wasn't sure he could drive safely in this mental state. "Calls herself Bloody Mary, Warp quirk that involves mirrors. In her fight with Death Arms and I, she prepped the room she wanted to fight us in by putting mirror shards everywhere to make it harder for us to anticipate where she was attacking from." He said, he could hear Endeavor writing the information down, usually a good sign with him. "Wore a Victorian dress and enough makeup to appear as glossy as an oiled up porcelain doll, we captured her heavy hitters but don't know if she has other comrades she didn't bring. She escaped before we could cuff her by entering one of the mirror shards and leaving through a mirror across the street from the clinic, based on police confiscation of local security footage."

"Anything else of note?"

"When she fights she seems to have some very basic knife skills, used one of the mirror shards to kill an officer we had supporting us and then warped into that mirror shard to dodge bullets. That said, she wasn't actively fighting, leaving that to a strength enhancement quirk user she was pulling in and pushing out of the mirror shards."

"Knows her quirk, focuses on prepping its use... I'll take it, nice working with you."

"Likewise," Gunhead said, not really meaning it, as the phone hung up he cursed and slammed his fist against his car, nearly denting the door. He looked up at the Midoriya residence to see Mitsuki, Marasu, and Katsuki making their way in. Good, they'd be able to help them emotionally, now he could focus on getting them some closure. He brought up a map on his cell and looked for a few alleys, mentally noting the routes to them before walking away from his car and down the street.

Keeping his emotions bottled up would only hurt in the long run, but he was sure he could find someone to 'confide' in. They might even give him some answers he was looking for, wouldn't that be nice.

* * *

Inko finished zipping up the back of her daughter's black dress when Mitsuki knocked on the bathroom door. "We'll be out in just a minute," Inko said, and she looked at her daughter, who was looking up at her with sad eyes, stitches littering her face. Izuku was dressed in her mourning dress, which reached two inches below her knees, thigh high socks, and her black shoes. She kissed Izuku's forehead and the two walked out of the bathroom to see Katsuki with a grocery bag at the table while Mitsuki was upon the two of them, pulling Izuku into a tight hug.

Marasu was close behind her, though he was much more gentle about the hug as Inko went over to Katsuki and he opened the bag for her to see brought what looked like a one-foot tall Gunhead plushie. "He saved her, I thought she might like it, help her feel safe." He said, and Inko pulled him into a hug. He froze up and realized it had been a long time since Inko had hugged him, probably stopped when he turned into a bully.

"Thank you, I'm sure she'll love it."

He felt awkward about the hug, but Katsuki did return it after a moment. Soon he was released from the hug and Mitsuki and Marasu were leading Izuku to the couch. When he saw her face his vision went red for a moment, He counted at least thirty different lines of stitching across her lower face and lips, as well as five or six more over the top of her head. Someone had seriously hurt her, he wanted to hurt them back, leave them in pieces, bury them broken but alive, let them suffocate both from their blood not being to take oxygen where it needed to go and there not being any more oxygen in the air available.

He closed his eyes and breathed in deep, held it in, then exhaled, now wasn't the time to get violent. Izuku had seen enough violence today, he was going to be calm, supportive, helpful. He walked over to her, he couldn't see her arms or legs but he was certain he'd find more stitching. "Hey, Izuku I... I got you this." He said, she was looking at him with such a blank expression, it didn't look right on her, she was supposed to be smiling and happy.  
Katsuki fought with everything he had to keep himself from showing how much anger he had towards the villains that hurt her, she didn't need to see that sort of face right now.

She reached and took the bag from his hands and pulled out the plushie, then hugged it to her chest. The adults looked like they needed to talk so he sat down next to her and put an arm around her side, pulling her close and letting her head rest on his shoulder. Mitsuki nodded and gave him a thumbs up before Inko and her went to Inko's bedroom to talk privately. Marasu watched them, then looked at Katsuki who had started brushing Izuku's hair with his hand.

"So, is she going to be getting therapy, because I'm pretty sure she's going to need therapy," Mitsuki said as she sat on Inkos bed. She wasn't smiling, her face worried but stern. Inko nodded and sat next to her, quieter than she usually was around Mitsuki. Mitsuki put a hand on her knee and squeezed. "Hey, you're both going to be all right."  
Inko brought her palm up and wiped her cheeks with the heel of her palm. "Gunhead blames himself, wants to increase how often he visits to try and make up for it," Inko said, and Mitsuki looked to the side. Mitsuki wasn't exactly surprised, she'd only met the guy once when they'd come to invite Inko and Izuku for dinner as the man was preparing to leave. He seemed like he had a soft spot for kids so it wasn't a surprise he was heartbroken over Izuku getting hurt. Inko let out a weak laugh and bite her lip. "I wonder how he'll respond to Izuku cuddling a plushie version of him?"

"He'll commission a plushie of each member of his agency and fill her room, probably make sure to put little security cameras in them," Mitsuki said, getting another laugh from Inko as she imagined Gunhead walking over to Izuku with a bag full of plushies and then dumping them on her until only her confused face was visible. "They'd even have little turrets built in, Bzzzt Male Detected, Bam Bam Bam."

Mitsuki even made finger guns, pretending to shoot them. Inko had to cover her mouth to stifle her laughs, a few happy tears coming from her eyes. "Mitsuki stop!" She said between laughs and Mitsuki shrugged and put an arm around Inkos shoulders.

"See, you're both going to be okay, that big lug of a hero is going to get her some help, Izuki will start to perk up and become a great hero that stops things like this from happening."

Inko nodded, a small cross between a laugh and a sob choking out of her. Mitsuki brought her other arm around her and held her, rocking softly. "It's going to be okay Inko, I promise you," Mitsuki said, closing her eyes and letting Inko fall apart in her arms. She started soft, but soon let it out, screaming into Mitsuki's arms with her own arms wrapped tight around her friend.

Katsuki heard as Inko started to break down, holding Izuku a bit tighter, he wasn't good at this sort of thing. He didn't have his mom's soft side or his dads calm, what he had was a pair of arms and a penchant for punching and exploding things. You don't soothe a person with explosions, it doesn't work like that. Maybe he should call Mirio and his friends, they seemed good at being cheery and had experience as heroes so they've probably dealt with traumatized victims, helped them feel better.  
He took his phone out with his free hand and brought up Mirio's phone number, briefly wondering what the hero in training would think of his contact name being Discount Tintin before sending him a quick text.

 **Ground Zero: Hey, Izuku's in a bad place, needs cheering up, can you help?**

 **Discount Tintin: Sorry, Sir Nighteye called me in for something.**

Great...

He put his phone away and looked at his father, who was on the phone with someone. "You found them, great, see if you can talk with the parents about setting up a get-together, I'm sure it would benefit them all to be able to see each other," Marasu said, then hung up his phone and put it away. He then looked at Katsuki and smiled at his look of confusion. "She's not alone, son."

He'd gotten someone to contact the other victims, Katsuki smiled and nodded at Marasu. "Thanks, dad." He said, getting a nod back from Marasu. He heard Izuku's breathing change and looked at her. She'd passed out, great, now what's he supposed to do...

"Oh, she's asleep... honey do you have a marker with you?"

"... Noooo." Katsuki whispered, glaring at his smirking mother. His father looked between them before digging in his pocket and for some dumb reason, he actually had a black washable marker. "Don't you dare you old hag..."

Inko looked between Katsuki and Mitsuki as the latter took the marker from her husband and used her thumb to flick the cap off. Mitsuki grinned as she walked up to her son with the marker in hand. "Now, don't move, wouldn't want to wake Izuku up now would we?" Mitsuki said as Inko brought her hands to her mouth. Katsuki grit his teeth, trying not to growl or make any noise as Izuku slept with her head on his shoulder.

His eye twitched as the marker in his mother's hand started to go towards his chin.

Marasu watched in amusement as Mitsuki doodled on Katsuki's face, knowing she was doing it in an attempt to get Izuku to laugh when she woke up. That it annoyed Katsuki was probably a just a bonus for her. She stepped back and threw her arms out as if showing off a piece of art, he had to hold back a snort of amusement. She'd drawn a Fu Manchu mustache with a soul patch below his lower lip, a monocle around each eye, and connected his eyebrows. She walked away to get the cap to close the marker before handing it back to Marasu. "Thank you, dear."

Marasu nodded and put the marker back in his pocket, preparing himself for the fight that would be unleashed when they got home. He took another look at Katsuki's face and gave an apologetic smile to Inko, it's also possible he wouldn't wait that long. Inko sighed and went back to her kitchenette, taking the kettle off the table as she passed. Maybe some more tea would help calm things down.

Katsuki contained his anger as best he could as Izuku slept, the feeling of the marks on his face not helping. She didn't seem to be stirring though so he figured he must be doing a good job at it, despite Mitsuki snickering.

 _Click_

His eyes snapped up to his mother, who had her phone out and had taken a picture of them. "And... new background," Mitsuki said as Marasu sighed, meanwhile Inko came out of the kitchenette pushed the coffee table and its contents from the middle of the room to the wall. He was starting to think he might be a bit predictable, he wasn't sure it was a bad thing. He took a few deep breaths, doing his best to keep calm as Marasu seemed to tell Mitsuki to cut Katsuki a bit of slack.

She rolled her eyes and sat on her husband's lap while Inko went back to preparing a kettle of tea. Katsuki found himself relaxing a bit as he combed his fingers through Izuku's hair. She'd be okay, he knew that much, she'd get whatever help she needed and they'd both go to UA.

They'd become heroes together, just like they promised to as kids.

* * *

"W-Wait, ple-"

"Nope!"

Himiko Toga sometimes wondered why it bothered people that she wanted to be them. Like the man underneath her with the knife in his throat, she'd been living with him for days now and he was rather nice. She liked him, wanted to be him, but he just got scared and forced her hand. She pulled the man's hands away from the knife and let them fall to his side, he was still twitching, gasping. "You look so handsome right now... we'll be one soon, okay?" She said as she pulled the knife from his throat and clamped her lips over the gushing wound, drinking the blood squirting into her mouth as quickly as it came. She felt her quirk take over, she adjusted her position as she became taller and taller. She sucked at the wound as the blood stopped pumping into her mouth before pulling back from the stab wound.

She pouted seeing she'd gone too far again, then shrugged, she'd see if she could play with one of his friends. For now, though she needed to stay inside and hide the body if she left now his neighbors might get suspicious, he wasn't someone who left home after work. So she dragged the body to his freezer and started emptying it out until she came across a tub of ice cream. "Jackpot!" She said once she felt it's weight, putting it on the counter to thaw out a bit before washing her hands and face. She walked over to the corpse with wet hands and squeezed her hands together, getting some of the water to drip off onto the man's lips before she dragged him over to the freezer and stuffed him inside. With that done she grabbed a spoon, the tub of ice cream, and turned on the television.

"-nt has begun to find the new villain Bloody Mary, who orchestrated the attack on the Musutafu Quirk Assessment Clinic. Pro-heroes led by Gunhead were able to foil the plot and capture many of her associates but the woman herself is still at large."

Himiko stopped listening after a bit, he listened to the news after work and she'd only turned it on to keep the charade up. She pulled the lid from the tub of ice cream and scooping it into her mouth. She looked up at the screen for a moment after something red caught her eye, what she saw made her drop her spoon. Right there on the hero's back was a girl absolutely covered in blood, soaked in it, and she had all sorts of stitches in her skin and she'd been stuffed in a woodchipper. "Beautiful..." Himiko said, putting her ice cream down and crawling to the television screen. "She's so beautiful... I need to meet her... I need to be her... all covered in blood and cut up..."

"Our prayers go out to the staff workers who gave their lives in defense of the children in the clinic and their families, especially Kokku Saigomade who according to reports died from overuse of her quirk. Thanks to her efforts examinee Izuku Midoriya was saved from the cannibalistic villain dubbed 'Rakshoni', a prolific B-Rank villain!"

"Izuku… Izuku, we'll be the best of friends, we'll be together forever, right?" Himiko said, grinning as she pressed her face against the screen that showed a hero handing her to a pudgy woman with green hair. "You, me, and Mr. Stainy, we'll make the world so much easier to live in..."

Himiko stood up and ran around the room, looking for a phone book or computer of some sort. She had to find her, had to be her, so beautiful and bloody, she was perfect. Eventually, she found the mans computer, it needed a password and she entered the first thing that came to mind when she thought of the man she was now. The password worked and she rolled her eyes, Metalhead wasn't the best password in her opinion but everyone had their flaws. She wondered what Izuku's flaw would be as she entered Musutafu, Midoriya into the search engine. There was more than one Midoriya family, and she couldn't be sure which was the right one.

She giggled, picked up the laptop, and smashed it against the edge of the desk. Who cares if there's more than one, she'll just go after each and every one of them until she found her. Himiko released her quirk, grey fluidly falling from her, revealing her naked form before she dressed herself in the school uniform of the man's daughter. She'd been wearing them for a while, having caught the girl on her way to school and taking her place. It was the usual sailor style uniform with black knee-high socks and brown uniform loafers. Something was missing though, then she smiled and when into the man's room, pulling one of his beige cardigans from the closet and pulling it over her head.

It was perfect, they were both a part of her now, after all, she was them and they were her. Soon she would be Izuku too, she wondered what sort of clothing she liked.  
She took the mans phone from his pocket and put in the address of the nearest Midoriya family, she hoped it was the right one but if it wasn't that was fine too. She was still kind of thirsty anyway. Himiko walked out of the house and made her way to an alley, skipping as she thought of all the things she'd do with her new friend. They'd cover each other in blood, she'd get to cut her and break her and be her, she could hardly wait to be her!

She skipped about, moving from alley to alley as she made her way to Musutafu. She already knew what sort of present she wanted to give Izuku to let her know she was a good friend!

"Oh Bloody Mary, oh Bloody Mary, you hurt Midori, you hurt Midori~." She said in a sing-song tone, her face flushed and grin wide as could be. "Now you're to cease to be, cause the only one who hurts her is me~."

Who didn't love a head in a box?

"I'm coming Izuku, your new best friend, we'll be together forever and ever!"

* * *

Izuku opened her eyes slowly and saw Inko, Marasu, and Mitsuki looking at her. Mitsuki was also holding her cell up, a green light flickering. She looked down and saw the Gunhead plushie and realized she was tilted to the side, her cheek pressed against something hard. She blinked and looked up, seeing Katsuki with his face covered in marker. She squeaked and squeezed the plushie tighter as Katsuki turned to her with a marker mustache, soul patch, monocles, and unibrow. Izuku stared for a bit before saying the first thing that came to mind.

"I don't think that's how you're supposed to put on makeup."

"Izuku!" Inko said as Katsuki's mouth fell open, looking at her in utter shock as Mitsuki howled in laughter. Izuku blushed, realizing what she'd just said and buried her face into her new plushie. She heard Mitsuki gasping for air between laughs, while Inko tried to look appalled but was the corners of her mouth kept twitching up. Marasu shook his head, smiling softly while Katsuki just looked at her, little noises of confusion and horror coming from his open mouth.

"She just sassed him, oh my god she just sassed him, oh god did I get that, please tell me I got that!" Mitsuki said as she looked over her phone, then crowed with laughter. Mitsuki threw her free arm around Inko's shoulders and held her phone in her face. Izuku could hear it repeating the line she'd just said. "I got it, Inko I have a video of your girl finally giving my idiot son the sass he's had coming for years!"

"The hell's that supposed to mean you old hag!" Katsuki said as Izuku tried to curl up into a tiny ball and disappear. Mitsuki just kept laughing, using Inko as support to keep herself from falling over. Eventually, Inko cracked and started laughing as well as Izuku started blushing bright red. Soon Katsuki couldn't take it anymore and let go of Izuku, leaping at his mother who proceeded to Judo flip him before jumping up and planting an elbow in his back. "Gah, damn it, get off fatass!"

"Excuse you?" Mitsuki said as Marasu palmed his face, Inko gasping at Katsuki's comment while Izuku lifted her head enough to peak over Plushie-Gunhead's head. She spun and put her legs over Katsuki's back, soon she had him in a straight armlock. She started twisting his arm and smirked down at him. "My ass is amazing, just ask your father, he loves to make it bounce!"

"You sick old hag, I needed to hear zero percent of that!"

"Oh just say Uncle!"

"Like hell!"

Izuku bit her lip and found herself trying to keep from giggling as Mitsuki kept Katsuki pinned, the two trading barbs while Marasu sighed. Inko saw Izuku's amusement and winked at her before popping her knuckles and, to Izuku's surprise, joining the fray with a battle cry. She watched in awe as her mother reached over and grabbed Mitsuki by reaching under and getting her hands around Mitsuki's midsection before flinging her up. As Mitsuki went into the air Inko flipped back to a handstand and hooked her feet under Mitsuki's arms. Inko bent her hips and the result drove Mitsuki head first to the ground and planted her feet back on either side of Mitsuki. Katsuki, who'd Mitsuki had let go once she realized she was in the air stared at Inko in shock, since when could Auntie Inko do that?

Inko smiled him before leaping into the air at him, Katsuki screamed as Inko's hands grabbed his shoulders and she did a handstand On his shoulders. He looked up to see while upside down she was facing the same way he was and was letting herself fall backward and behind him. As she fell she extended one foot behind her, kicking Katsuki in the back and sending him face first into the ground in front of his mother, all the while landing in a picture perfect arabesque pose. Izuku blinked, not sure when her mouth had fallen open or when she'd stopped curling up, just sitting with her arms around Plushie-Gunhead.

Marasu was writing on a piece of paper with the marker he'd given his wife earlier, then turned it around to show a Ten. "Damn it Inko you ballerina, that's not fair!" Mitsuki said with a pout, Katsuki mumbling into the ground. "Stupid dancing hero teaching people how to dance fight..."

"If Auntie Inko can do that how am I still alive?" Katsuki said as he decided he was going to just stay on the floor, getting an embarrassed laugh from Inko and a shrug from Marasu. Mitsuki rolled herself over and sat up, scratching a crick in her neck and looking at Katsuki with a deadpanned face.

"Fuck if I know, lord knows I told her she's allowed to whoop your ass."

"Mitsuki!"

Izuku couldn't take it anymore and burst into a fit of giggles, falling onto her side in the couch as Mitsuki started to laugh as well, Inko and Marasu joining in with them. Katsuki flipped himself over and smiled, though he didn't join in the laughter. Soon though the laughter tapered down and Izuku started curling into herself again, feeling tears forming in her eyes. Inko walked over and put a hand on her shoulder, getting her daughters attention and smiling. Izuku looked from her mother to Mitsuki, who was sitting on the ground with her legs crossed, grinning and waving while Marasu smiled gently at her, nodding. Finally, she looked at Katsuki, who was on his back and looking up at her, smirking.

She smiled back at them, a few tears spilling from her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak when someone knocked on the door, she spun her head towards it wondering who would be knocking. Katsuki glared at the door and got aimed one palm at the door, forming a circle with the other hand like Mirio and his friends gave him the idea to try. Mitsuki stood up and started to walk to the door, grabbing as stun gun disguised as a tube of lipstick her purse on the coatrack before she checked through the peephole in the door. She blinked and opened the door. "Who the hell are you?" Mitsuki said, she couldn't see much with how little Mitsuki had opened the door but eventually she opened the door fully and Osore, dressed in a black dress and pants rushed through the door. Izuku slipped from the couch and ran to meet her, Osore throwing her arms around Izuku and crying into her shoulder. "Izuku, Katsuki, why don't you three head to Izuku's room?"

Katsuki looked at his mother and nodded while Izuku's arms went around Osore, her left hand still holding onto Plushie-Gunhead. The three soon made their way into Izuku's bedroom while Mitsuki stepped back and let a man and a woman into the apartment.

The woman had long black hair and smooth bronze skin, dressed in a shoulder-less black dress, a black bolero jacket, black knee-high socks, and black shoes. Her eyes were a dark crimson that scanned the room, her sclera bloodshot from crying. Next to her was a man with pitch black eyes and blue skin, his head shaved bald. He stood calmly in a three-piece suit, all black just like his wife's clothes.

"I am Ekitai Dendo, and this is my wife, Nagare Dendo." The man said, Nagare nodding beside him. Inko noted that while the man's eyes didn't show any signs of crying, due to their color, his cheeks showed signs of recent tears. She nodded to them and gestured for them to sit. "Thank you, Osore was insistent that she come see your daughter rather than stay home, we didn't want to intrude but thought that having someone who was there would be beneficial for both parties."

"It's no intrusion, we all need to help each other get through this, for their sakes," Inko said as she attempted to make tea once more, which Katsuki not in the room with Mitsuki there hopefully wouldn't be any interruptions. She pulled out a cup for everyone, emptied the first patch of tea from the kettle, and refilled it.

"Why is the table against the wall?" Nagare said, her voice sounded electronic.

Mitsuki laughed a bit. "Izuku passed out and I decided to help cheer her up by drawing some stuff on my brat of a son's face. When she woke up and sassed him about it he tried to attack me. I wrestled him a bit before Inko decided to show us both up." Mitsuki said, jamming a thumb at Inko as she put a kettle on the stove. Inko blushed and looked away as Ekitai and Nagare looked at her. "She might not look it but she could probably flatten a roomful of thugs and pirouette on their dazed heads."

"I'm not that good."

"Honey you're out of practice and still managed to kick my son halfway across the room by going into an arabesque behind him," Mitsuki said as she lounged on the couch. Inko's face turned beet red as the kettle started to whistle. "You're tough sweetie, heaven knows it wasn't Hisashi Izuku got her guts from."

Inko sighed as Nagare and Ekitai looked between the two.

* * *

"So, you want to get into UA too?" Katsuki said as Osore nodded tearfully, still holding onto Izuku while Izuku returned the hug. He looked at her, she didn't seem particularly strong, fit sure. He didn't comment on it and looked at Izuku, who seemed happy that Osore had come to visit. "Well, Izuku and I are heading to UA, if you live nearby maybe you could join us in our training sessions?"

Osore looked at him with teary eyes while Izuku nodded. "Yeah, we've been turning some of the trash in Dagobah Beach into workout equipment and an obstacle course, we could see if you could enter the televisions there!" Izuku said, getting Osore's attention, Katsuki noticed she looked surprised and a little bit shocked. Granted they only knew each other for a small amount of time but any amount of time with Izuku tells people how much she craves being with other people. Something must have happened at the clinic then, something Izuku didn't realize, like hell he was opening that can of worms here.

Izuku then let go of Osore, bringing Plushie-Gunhead to her chest and slipped off the bed. Katsuki raised an eyebrow as Izuku went to her closet and started digging through stuff with her free hand. Soon he saw what she was looking for he blinked, unaware she still had the stupid thing. Said thing being an All-Might plushie he'd given to Mitsuki to give Izuku since he didn't want it linked directly to him. Izuku held the plushie out to Osore who stared it at, then Izuku and pointed at herself. When Izuku nodded Osore took it from her gently and looked at it.

"Aunt Mitsuki gave it to me when I was small, saying it was from Katsuki. It helped me feel safe when I was small and still waiting for my quirk to activate." She said, and Katsuki twitched and grit his teeth, old hag wasn't supposed to tell her that. "It also reminded me to shoot for number one so I could make people feel safe too, I hope it'll do the same for you... if you want it..."

Osore snuggled the All-Might plushie and nodded, getting a grin from Izuku. Katsuki took a deep breath at the fact she was handing off a gift from him but realized she was probably as hurt as Izuku was in some ways. Of course Izuku would give it to her. That Izuku felt safe because of a gift from him and thought it would help her new friend in this kind of situation helped ease the fact she was giving it away. He rolled his shoulder and pulled out his cell as the two interacted, he couldn't call it talking since Osore didn't talk but gestured instead. He held it up, waiting for the right moment to take a picture. He soon had it as the two girls sat next to each other, squeezing their plushies and leaning against each other's side.

 _Click_

Izuku and Osore both looked at Katsuki as he sent the picture to Mitsuki and started counting down on his fingers with a smirk. Three, two, one. "Damn it I missed seeing a golden moment!" Mitsuki said from the other room, getting a wide 'payback is sweet' grin from Katsuki while Izuku blushed red and Osore blushed purple. He grinned wider and took another picture before texting his mother.

 **Ground Zero: Thanks for screaming you old hag, I got an even better one as a result and I'm not sharing.**

Then he heard a squawk from his mother and started laughing as Izuku and Osore curled up, their faces behind their plushies. He might have lost to Aunt Inko but at least he beat his mother. Katsuki looked at the two girls in front of him and thought about Mirio, Nejire, and Tamaki, three friends who pushed and teased each other into greatness.

He could live with that, he just hoped Izuku didn't pick up every stray extra she met.

* * *

Inko poured a cup of tea for her newest guests, who had explained further why they had arrived. Izuku had made a good impression on Osore, becoming one of her very few friends only for the incident to happen. Osore blamed herself for Izuku's state as well as Kokku's death as she'd seen them using her quirk but hadn't attempted to make contact and redirect them. Inko understood the guilt though she couldn't bring herself to blame the girl, she was small and incapable of speech according to her parents, the idea of running around in a situation like that was something you couldn't ask of a child. Mitsuki understood as well, which prompted Masaru to talk about his plan to see about getting the kids together to help each other through what had happened.

Then Katsuki started teasing his mother about cute pictures.

"I can't believe that twerp, keeping Izuku's cute moments to himself!" Mitsuki said, looking ready to head into Izuku's room and steal her son's cell. She didn't though, settling for pouting at the moment. Masaru shook his head at his wife's antics while Inko put the coffee table back in the middle of the room and put her kettle on it. If there was one thing he was jealous of Hisashi for it was his wife's tea. He soothed said jealousy by reminding herself the man didn't get to partake in it nearly as often as he did.

His wife was good with tea as well thanks to Inko showing her a few things.

He looked over at Ekitai and Nagare, the two seemed to be surprised by how hospitable Inko was, slow to relax. They weren't looking for friends, just looking to help soothe their daughter's pain which he could understand. Still, he'd learned a long time ago you don't step into Inko's home and come out with anything less than a friend in the woman. Once they had relaxed Ekitai turned out to be the more expressive of the two, excited and complimentary. Nagare, on the other hand, seemed to watch, occasionally reeling her husband from going too far, gently keeping him on track rather than giving any sort of disapproval.

"This tea is amazing, are you certain you've never thought about opening a tea shop?" Ekitai said after he tried the tea, he'd gone for a sip and after tasting it nearly upended the cup. Nagare however, having noticed the look in her husband's eye reached out and put her hands around his, keeping him from drinking it too quickly. He could understand the man's actions, his wife had much the same reaction with her first sip.

Nagare was calm as she drank her tea and Masaru noticed as Ekitai's eyes twitched over to his wife.

"I'm afraid not, my husband took a job abroad to better care for Izuku and I, it's because of him we are able to live in this part of town," Inko said, getting a sad nod from Ekitai and Nagare, she supposed they must have been wondering where Izuku's father was with this sort of crisis at home. Ekitai took another drink from his cup and mimicked his wife's pace, it was strange to watch but she also found it a bit endearing. Izuku's father had been ecstatic to hear his baby girl got a quirk, though she failed to mention how. She didn't want to stress him in a situation he couldn't do anything about. She supposed the news on Bloody Mary must not have reached him yet and checked the clock.

3:30 PM, not only had the mess caused her to forget lunch but her husband was likely asleep now. An early dinner might be best for Izuku, with a light snack before bed so she had what she needed to recover physically. Inko looked at the host of people in her home. She smiled as a thought came to mind. After she'd been told she was quirkless Izuku lost her friends and became starved for it, even continuing to follow Katsuki despite his treatment of her. "Would you like to stay for dinner, I was thinking of having an early dinner tonight so I'll be starting soon." She said, and Ekitai's eye shined, with the black pools his eyes already were it was like looking into the night sky.

"That would be lovely, I'm sure Osore would love to stay longer, and we could arrange play dates for the two over supper!" Ekitai said, with a smile of agreement from Nagare.

"It would be a perfect way to tease her and take her mind off the tragedy," Nagare said as Ekitai stood up and walked over to Inko, as sudden as he started moving it was also smooth, like he had slid over the floor rather than walked. He reached and kissed the back of her hand, getting a whistle from Mitsuki as Inko turned red. Nagare just smiled and shook her head fondly.

* * *

Gunhead twisted a thugs arm behind his back by his wrist with one hand and, placing his other hand on the thugs back, slammed him into the wall. His chest hit the wall first, along with the momentum forcing the thug to headbutt the wall. Once he did this his back-up for the day, a veteran in his agency with the hero name Retribution, came out of the shadows in the alley and started cuffing the thugs currently unconscious buddies. "Alright, so, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can be used against you in court but it can also hurt you if you rely on information you failed to share," Gunhead said before twisting harder on the thug's arm, getting a shout of pain. "And believe me, that last bit is both in regards to your defense in court and your wellbeing right now."

"He's being serious, trust me, I wouldn't be here if he wasn't serious." Retribution said, his voice comparable to scraping gravel rocks together in your hands. He was one of those few people in the agency Gunhead didn't know outside of work, mostly because while he worked with his agency he was an underground agent. Underground heroes were more than just the graveyard shift heroes, they were brutal, efficient, the sort of hero that didn't bring light to dark times but blotted out the moon and left criminals shivering in the very dark they thought their friend. Retribution took his name because his quirk was terrible for patrolling and saving, but when Gunhead was tasked with bringing someone to justice after the fact, he grabbed Retribution.

"Oh yeah right, like you're actually going to-"

Gunhead twisted the man's wrist with his thumb pressing against it right where the bones for the thumb and wrist meet. Soon there was a wet, muffled pop followed by the thug screaming.

"Fuck, Fuck that was my wrist!"

"Bit more than that, I just dislocated your right metacarpal and trapezoid, so your thumb is now free from your wrist and the bone in your wrist it connects to is floating," Gunhead said, twisting further. The man screamed and Gunhead saw Retribution finish cuffing the unconscious ones. Retribution took care not to come off as edgy like some underground heroes. Studded brown leather jacket, blue pants, white shirt, white driving gloves, a white balaclava with no eyeholes, and a pair of brown leather boots that went halfway up his calf. His gear was designed to look like normal clothes but they were made of proper materials for hero work, he's personally seen the shirt stop a knife from stabbing deep enough to be lethal. "Now, as I understand Hellram was one of your boys before you hired him out to Bloody Mary. You remember him right, black fur, twin horns, more dog than ram but hey, hardly as bad as the fact that he was apparently a cannibal and you gave him your victims to keep him in line. As you can imagine, at least I hope you're smart enough to be able to, feeding cannibals doesn't go over well with the courts. As it is Slit-Mouth is on death row and she barely got the chance to do anything in the clinic and despite him only being a new villain with barely a few crimes to his name that clinic has Hellram looking at Tartarus."

"So I'm going to ask, really nice now, where the hell one finds Bloody Mary?" Gunhead said as the thug squirmed and panicked in his grip, Retribution coming over and placing a pair of fingers on the man's neck to keep a feel on his pulse.

"I don't know, she came to us, came out of a mirror in our hideout with the cash and took Hellram, I swear!" The thug said, he looked at Retribution who shook his head, then reached to the thug's hand and wrapped his index finger around the thugs right pinky, his thumb pressed against the tip. Retribution applied a bit of pressure and dislocated the joint, making the thug howl in pain. "I told you what I know!"

"He has a hand on your wrist and I had a finger on your neck, we felt your pulse jump when you lied. Try again and this time keep in mind lying is not going to look good for you at all." Retribution said, sliding his index finger down the man's pinky and putting a warning press on the next joint. The man tried to squirm out of my grip and away from him but he didn't have much luck. "Believe me, I'm keeping this limited to your hand for his sake. He can hand you over to me, look away any time he wants, by the end of our chat you'll be able to diagnosis broken bones and dislocated joints based on sound alone."

The thug whimpered and Gunhead got an idea. "Actually, come to think of it I do need to call the parents of those kids that Hellram helped mess up, see if they're okay," Gunhead said, letting go of the thug to get his phone, Retribution grabbed the mans wrist and made sure to slam him back into the wall so his face was directed towards the entrance of the alleyway. The thug's whimpers got louder as Gunhead made a show of walking out with his cell at his ear. In reality, he was dialing Endeavor, having told the asshole to expect a call. "If you could get a statement from him Retribution, that'd be great."

"Wait, please, I'll talk!"

Gunhead held his arms out and turned around, looking at the thug and tapping the button to put it on speaker. "Then talk, nice and clear for us, where did you meet Bloody Mary?!"

"There's a warehouse in the old industrial district, she turned the inside of it into an indoor circus and made her own personal house of mirrors, she had us meet her in front of the house of mirrors!" The thug said as Retribution turned him fully towards Gunhead. The man was bleeding from the nose as well as a split in his upper lip, he wondered if it was his slam, Retributions, or one from each. "She had a feast set up for Hellram along with a tent that had a cave design and a bunch of emaciated weirdos to serve her and her other big shots, it was on 7th Place, that's all I know only our driver actually had the full address!"

"Cuff him and let's get back to work," Gunhead said as he took the phone off speaker and brought it to his ear. "I assume you heard everything clearly enough and you're sending someone to verify?"

"I am." Endeavor said, then he hung up. Gunhead could admire the efficiency to a degree, he'd probably make a decent underground if he wasn't vainglorious as all hell. He pocketed his cell and looked back at Retribution, who'd taken the moment Gunhead took verify Endeavor heard the info to knock the thug they were questioning out. They each picked up two thugs by the cuffs on their wrists before bringing them out to the street. There were a few cars parked by the sidewalk, two of them suddenly turned on and drove up to them. Police climbed out of the cars, two took the thugs to the backseats while one held a clipboard up to Gunhead. He signed the papers and the officer left with his coworkers, thugs in tow.

"So, what now?" Retribution said as the two started walking down the street to Retributions bike. Gunhead looked at the next intersections signs, he was a good hours walk from the Midoriya residence and he still needed to get his car. He looked at Retribution and contemplated bringing him along with him, Izuku and Katsuki weren't the sorts to do underground work but he'd probably be able to give Katsuki some still relevant advice. Katsuki was with Izuku more often than he was, her friend and her first line of defense. "Sir?"

"I need to get my car from the apartment complex Midoriya lives in, it's about three miles and I want to check up on her anyway." He said. "She has a friend, vicious little kid, powerful combat quirk, terrible disposition for a hero but wants the spotlight. Since Izuku got her quirk he's been really protective of her but is still terrible at actually handling her."

Retribution pulled his helmet from the handle facing the sidewalk and pulled it on. Gunhead held his hair down and press a button on his mask, extensions coming out to fully cover his head. The two of them got onto the bike and Retribution started driving down the road, Gunhead realized he hadn't told the man the address but he seemed to be going the right way. He decided not to ask, Retribution wasn't much for giving answers anyway, plus it could just be his quirk.

They kept quiet as Retribution drove, it wasn't exactly a long drive, only four miles and Retribution was rather good at being just five miles over the speed limit. Once they arrived he tapped his mask again, letting the backplate retake and his hair fluff up to its usually backward spikes. Retribution got off the bike soon after he did and they made their way up to the apartment stairways, coming up to the Midoriya residence. Gunhead knocked and waited for a moment, he heard movement behind the door before it opened up, revealing Masaru. "Hello, back already?"

"Yeah, just wanted to make some headway on you know what, how's Izuku doing?" Gunhead said, then turned to jab a finger at Retribution. "Oh, and this is Retribution, keep quiet about him, underground."

Masaru nodded and stepped out of their way to let them in. "She's alright, one of the other victims came with her family, Inko is just starting to prepare an early dinner," Masaru said as the two walked into the apartment. Gunhead saw Osore's parents and nodded to them, which prompted them both to bow deeply towards him. Retribution looked at the three kids who started to come out of what he imagined was a bedroom. He saw the All-Might plushie in the blue girl's arms and in the green-haired zombie's arms was a plushie of Gunhead. He looked at his boss and saw the man had frozen staring at the thing, he could already hear the gears in Gunheads head spinning into overdrive.

"... Remind me to check the merchandise lists back at HQ." Gunhead said after a moment. Inko smiled as her daughter blushed but looked happy at the hint that she might be getting more hero plushies. She looked at the man in the jacket and he held up a hand and shook his head, he wouldn't be staying. Gunhead walked over to the children and started rubbing Izuku and Osore's heads before pulling them into a quick hug. They returned it then separated to go sit on the couch and watch some television before dinner. He held up a fist for Katsuki, who bumped it with his own before Gunhead leaned in and pointed to Retribution. "Katsuki, this is Retribution, Retribution, Katsuki."

Katsuki seemed to understand Gunhead wanted him to talk with Retribution, who flicked his head towards the door. Katsuki nodded and they headed out while Gunhead went over to Izuku to compare himself to the plushie. "So, Retribution?" Katsuki said as he looked at the hero, who nodded and pulled his balaclava up enough to reveal his mouth. In the dark it was hard for Katsuki to make out if he had normal skin or quirk effected, then he brought a cigarette up to his lips and pulled a lighter from his jacket. The flame showed his lips to be cracked and scarred, along with his cheeks, chin, and jawline. "Why that name?"

"My quirk isn't good for being a comforting sight running around saving lives, it's made to bring people down fast and bring them down hard." Retribution said as he lit the cigarette, taking a long drag before blowing out the smoke. He looked down at Katsuki who was now looking at his hands. With a sigh, Retribution walked over to the railing and punched it half-heartedly. At first, Katsuki thought it was a joke or a nervous habit, but then Retribution snapped his fingers. The metal twisted and bent with a loud screech.

Retribution leaned against the wall again, taking another drag of his cigarette. "Imagine that was a persons arm."

Katsuki cringed at the idea, pretty sure the person would stop having an arm. "My quirk is Marked for Destruction, I hit something with it active, it places an invisible mark on that person, I snap, the marks structurally ruin whatever they're placed on." He said, and Katsuki looked up at him, he shrugged. "I've hit people with it, generally stronger people can endure it or if they've got a hardening type quirk I might need more marks to unleash at once to do it, but it's not something I can really use in front of people and expect people to like me."

"... My quirk is Explosion, and I used to bully Izuku not really grasping how bad I was hurting her." Katsuki said, realizing why Gunhead wanted him to talk to Retribution. He looked at his hands and breathed in deep from his nose, then out his mouth. "I decided to read up on quirk instability after she was diagnosed with an extreme case and realized I had a minor version myself with a bit of hindsight and testing. My body reacts differently to explosions than others, what I thought was only enough blast to make a first degree burn at worst was enough to sear and blister flesh. Where my mind doesn't react to my explosions aside from hearing them the loud pops and booms can seriously startle and frighten others..."

"Your body and mind are built to think of explosions as minor things so you can use them without scaring or hurting yourself, without that frame however you didn't realize just how painful they are." Retribution said, quirk instability was a major part of any persons life, it was why they had to be regulated, why heroes needed specialized training, licenses, and insurance to be able to work. Part of that training was understanding your quirk can kill despite how harmless it feels in your hand. "Then you did something you couldn't take back."

"No, I just saw the result of something I couldn't take back, I've been doing stupid shit for over a decade now," Katsuki said, then looked at the closed door behind them. "I hurt her, I hurt her so bad even though she can cut off a hand with a smile she gets scared of my hands if I'm not slow, and the idea that my hand on her being comfortable for her is laughable, I can't help her through a situation like this, all I can do is give her stuff and hope it works."

Retribution nodded, trained behaviors like that would take a long time to get over. "Tell me, do you think victims I manage to save get scared of me?" He said, Katsuki turning back to him. "The answer is yes, they do, my quirk, the fact that I'm an underground hero and not well known, they usually start off thinking I'm a villain who's attacking a rival at a bad time." He said as he pulled the cigarette butt from his mouth and flicked it away. "Then I untie them, they realize I'm a hero, and they relax, they realize they're comforted not because I held them or spoke softly, but because they feel safe, that my quirk will strike down any threat."

"You say your hands are only good for hurting people, that's not a weakness. You might not be able to soothe her pain with a rub on the cheek or a hug, but you can make her feel safe in the fact that if anything comes to hurt her, you'll break it first."

Katsuki looked up at him, then down at his hands. "So... just start punching what makes her cry?" He said, then nodded as he clenched his hands into fists. "... Yeah, I can do that, let Bloody Mary come, I'll destroy her."

* * *

 ** _Omake 1 - Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Plushies of War._**

Katsuki wasn't sure what sure expect after Gunhead took the plushie he'd given Izuku and promised to make it 'better'. He also promised to get her a whole team of plushies. So when he went to meet up with Izuku and heard gunfire as he neared Dagobah Beach he started to run.

What he found was Izuku and Osore munching on sandwiches as a five foot tall Gunhead plushie sitting on the ground with a black headband over it's eyes, two bandoliers of bullets strapped to it's chest, and twin LMGs opened fire on a bunch of old junk.

"What the fuck!?"

The Gunhead-Plushie spun at the waist. "Male Detected."

"Oh shit!"

"Freedom Gunhead no!"


	9. The Day after

_Circus of Horrors Arc, Part 5 : The Day After._

 ** _Warning : Graphic Scenes Ahead. Experimental Self Harm._**

* * *

"After studying the security footage for the facility, I think we should think about offering those eight students entry to UA's heroics course."

Nezu enjoyed most of the meetings he had with the faculty. Bringing a number of heroes with different, and sometimes conflicting, personalities into one room and then opening the floor for anyone who wanted to talk while planning out in his mind who would talk, who would respond, who would get mad and when was a treasured brain exercise that was as much fun when he was right as when he was wrong.

The addition of Toshinori Yagi, who earned mixed feelings from some heroes, was admired by others and was disliked by a few other still was the perfect bit of fresh air in his game that he needed. Right now, for instance, the morning after the attack on a quirk assessment facility he's already bringing up taking the students under their wing. Nezu had anticipated it would be him to bring it up but he'd thought the man would wait a day or so first, as well as recommend extending an offer to make up for the lack of a full assessment rather than just take them.

"I can't say I wholly disagree, but maybe we should offer a test of some sort?" Snipe said from the other side of the table. Nezu nodded to himself, Snipe was a quick shot with both his gun and his words, quick to point out more logical than emotional options. Nezu looked at Toshinori and wondered for a moment which examinee he had an emotional connection to. As Toshinori opened his mouth to respond Nezu anticipated Toshinori would give away which one it was, possibly by only knowing one name of the group.

"While I agree some of them should earn a recommendation like Momo and Osore, others might need to go through the entrance exam. Roy and Tsubame's didn't bother to use their quirks and were effectively just extra hands, Hitoshi didn't get a chance to show how powerful his quirk is either." Midnight said, and Nezu grinned inside, he hadn't considered Midnight jumping in between the two men, perhaps he should have. "Not to mention while Minoru did show ingenuity with those traps we never saw them in action, he was also the first one to panic and panicked pretty badly until they took a moment to calm him down."

Toshinori nodded. "True, but on the same vein, Hitoshi was the first one to respond to the need for a leader to organize a defense when they lost their only way of navigating the building. Roy and Tsubame might not have used their quirks but in assisting Minoru they showed they know how to cooperate with others and didn't panic." Toshinori said, and Nezu had to write off his previous guess of how Toshinori would give away his connection, he'd been reminded of their names after all. Perhaps the right one's name would be said, he started watching Toshinori out of the corner of his eyes. "Minoru might not have been given the chance to show how effective the traps were and did panic, but he also showed initiative once he'd been freed from that panic, a number of their ideas in the room were his after all."

"Tetsutetsu was quick to defend his fellow examinees and prioritized strengthing his quirk as it was the only one that could take a harsh blow out of the group and Osore's assistance in the security room saved Hand of Harmony and Fatgum a lot of sweat and blood." Vlad King said, seeming to agree with Toshinori's assessment that they deserved entry without the initial exam. "Not to mention Izuku survived against Rakshoni, a C-rank villain, with no training."

There it was, it was subtle and he wasn't sure the other teachers noticed but there it was, the slightest twitch of Toshinori's eyes away from the other teachers and a twitch in the shoulder like he wanted to reach up and scratch the back of his neck. Now he knew where the connection was, now to map it. Where did he put her file at, there it was.

Izuku Midoriya, Quirk Classification, Activated Mutant.

The list of what in her body was mutated was a fascinating read, and one he would go back to later. His own quirk was mutant and while it mostly affected his mind part of him wondered if it also affected his body given he'd yet to see another animal like himself, so someone completely different from what they started as might make good company. Her name for it was cute and straight forward, Patchwork Zombie, and had been activated when she died.

Nezu felt somewhat bad for that fact, sure he had a bit of a grudge against humanity at times for the experiments that had been forced on him but she was a child, children were precious. Her cause of death was suicide, which made Nezu stop thinking about his usual mental exercising game and focus on the connection between the two, he had a bad feeling now. According to police reports she'd been attacked by a sludge monster that had been previously seen in the shopping market, pursued by All-Might, Toshinori's hero persona.

He was later seen attacking young Katsuki, a boy on their applicant list while Izuku was found to have died by suicide, not asphyxiation, so the sludge villain had not controlled her off the building. There was also a distance variable in locations that couldn't be explained, while the sludge villain had to been rather quick to be seen pursued by All-Might Izuku's jumping location had been further from the monsters attack on Katsuki than the market.

He could make out the teachers going back and forth but didn't listen, there was something very important here he could feel it in his fur. He ran through scenarios in his head and three factors became obvious.

First, All-Might had saved Izuku.

Two, All-Might had lost the sludge monster soon afterward.

Three, All-Might was the last person who saw Izuku before she committed suicide.

That combination of factors scared Nezu, it leaned towards the idea that Toshinori was responsible for her death in some way. He kept running through what they had on her, she'd been diagnosed as quirkless because a doctor was actively sabotaging children, so probably thought she was quirkless most her life. Activated Mutant meant she had no powers, effectively quickless unless it's specific conditions were met, it was like unlocking a class in a game by doing specific actions in on a character.

The girl also showed interest in UA's hero course, she was an applicant before her death and then renewed her application to include her quirk following her death. Toshinori also had come in to see Recovery Girl over injuries she listed as 'Gran Torino's work'. Nezu brought up a map and found the market, where Izuku died, and where Katsuki was attacked. He added an extra dot between Katsuki and the market assuming that's where Izuku was attacked.  
Looking down the line and he saw that from where Izuku was attacked and moving in a straight line was a police station within the range All-Might could jump. He added these facts in and rearranged them to create a timeline.

One, Izuku wanted to enter the UA Hero Course without a quirk.

Two, Izuku was saved by All-Might.

Three, Sludge villain captured by All-Might.

Four, All-Might tries to go to the police office with the villain by jump, Izuku latches on.

Five, All-Might loses the Sludge villain despite having contained it in some manner or another.

Six, Katsuki is attacked, All-Might doesn't appear but he had been there according to Recovery Girl getting a call from him at the site of the attack.

Seven, Izuku commits suicide.

Eight, his former mentor is extremely angry at him.

He went over the facts in his mind a few times, Izuku must have grabbed his leg, given Toshinori was in the market he had been buying something. Toshinori must have bought a drink of some sort, a large bottle he could scoop the villain's liquid form into and then pocket. All-Might form might have made those pockets tight, along with Izuku grabbing his leg for an unknown reason the bottle slipped midjump.

Why had she grabbed his leg, she was quirkless and trying to be a hero... and a hero was right in front of her. She must have asked if he believed in her, he doubted the children in her school were nice to her about her desire to be a hero when her quirk was inactive, humans were twisted like that. The Number One Hero though, his opinion on heroes mattered to a young aspiring heroine, combined with his time having run out and his secret out Toshinori would be in a bad mood.

He told her she couldn't be a hero, which pushed her over the edge. He felt guilty and went to Gran Torino, who ripped him a new one.

Nezu took a deep breath to calm himself, he couldn't reveal this in front of the faculty right now. For one it would ruin Toshinori who was already guilty, the man might deserve it but if his own coworkers lost faith and become disgusted with All-Might his position as the Symbol of Peace would be diminished. The already rising crime rate and severity would skyrocket, Bloody Mary would become one of many manhunts, not a sudden and extreme case.

At the same time, he needed to talk to him.

"So, what do you think Nezu?"

He perked up. "Simple, we just waive the medical requirement of the quirk assessment test, they'll still need to get a hero's approval to bypass the entrance exam and when people ask we'll explain the medical exam had been interrupted but the actions they showed based on security surveillance more than made up for it."

They looked at him for a bit, before slowly coming to agree, including Toshinori. Given that Izuku was already close with Gunhead due to the Monitor system he had no need to be worried. "Anyway we should start getting ready for classes, except you Toshinori, I'd like to speak with you about something," Nezu said, and the teachers all filed out while Toshinori stayed in his seat. Soon the room was empty save for the two of them, and Nezu went into his vest, pulling a cigarette box and lighter from his vest pocket.  
He lit the cigarette and put it between his lips. Toshinori looked worried, the principal of UA was a known smoker, but it wasn't something he let himself do often within the boundaries of the school. Nezu sighed out the smoke, creating a wide thin cloud in front of him. "So... Izuku committed suicide because of something you said."

Toshinori recoiled as if the words had been a stone, flung at his chest by a professional baseball pitcher. He coughed up a bit of blood and while he might not have been in his hero form, Nezu could have sworn the man deflated. "You know?"

"I figured it out during the meeting before I was asked my opinion on the subject. You were quick to bring the subject up and didn't offer a test to replace the clinic." Nezu said, normally he'd play with his words but he didn't feel the desire to play games right now. It was a rare feeling, one he usually saved for most scientists and villains. He flicked a bit of ash off his cigarette. "Once I saw you had a connection to Izuku, despite giving away One for All to dear Mirio per Sir Nighteye's recommendation, I looked over what we know about her. The facts lined up to you being the last one to see her and her having a question for you involving her life's dream."

Toshinori sighed, wiping up the blood on his lips and chin. Nezu could see the regret and anguish in the man. Good, if he hadn't Nezu wouldn't find it in himself not to repeat Gran Torino's attack on the man. As it was, he was tempted to do it anyway. "Yes, she came to me with a question of whether or not a quirkless person could be a hero and I said she'd be better of as a police officer or a doctor," Toshinori said. "I was harsh about it, told her dreams were nice but to keep the real world in mind."

Nezu sat, nursing his cigarette as Toshinori leaned forward, his forehead resting against a hand, elbow on the tale. The man was tearing up, he didn't look fragile, no he looked like he was broken and while the pieces were collected... they hadn't been fixed. Nezu sighed and brought out Izuku's file again as Toshinori continued. "I didn't know she'd committed suicide, I could have stuck around a bit longer, seen the pain, taken her somewhere. Instead, I shattered her, walked off, and didn't follow up. The only reason I even know is because Detective Tsukauchi was in charge of her case."

He listened to Toshinori continue for a while, as the man recounted the guilt eating at him, Sir Nighteye recommending he do some light, non-hero good deeds, Mirio convincing him to help Izuku become a hero to make up for telling her she couldn't be one. It did little to soothe Nezu's anger at the man, he was the principal of the often proclaimed best hero school in Japan for a reason, he cared about children a great deal. Whether it was a remnant part of his animal instincts or his higher intelligence leading him to do it, he very much pack bonded with the people in the school, especially the children he helped ensure the growth of.

To abandon a child after shattering her world view, a world view only you could fix after it had already been damaged... the entire thing felt wrong not only as a hero but just in general.

Nezu could admit even with his quirk he wasn't sure what to do. On one hand, him backing out of having All-Might teach at the school would raise questions about what made him reject All-Might, The Symbol of Peace, from teaching young heroes how to be heroes. On the other letting him teach at a hero school when he'd driven a young girl with aspirations of heroism to suicide and not notice until someone else mentioned the death is passing was an incident waiting to happen.

Still, it would be Ten Months before he actually started teaching, there was time to further think it over as well as see what the man would do. Toshinori unlike heroes who made similar mistakes did have a chance to fix his mistake thanks to the girl's quirk, make her into a hero on par with himself. He also needed to be here for Mirio, as he'd passed the quirk One for All onto the rising star and if there were any complications they'd need him around.

"I honestly don't know what to do, we both need you here and can't allow you here regardless of what angle I look at. Telling for you to leave will tarnish both the school and your image as people question why. Students will wonder if we're really trying to provide the best education if we don't hire the best hero, while others will look into why you wouldn't qualify. Rumors will abound and before you know it someone will link it together as I did, it'll spread and villains will take advantage to turn people to pawns. Crime would explode, riots would be commonplace."

Nezu flicked his cigarette away, landing it in a trashcan. "At the same time, keeping you around runs an incredible amount of risk because that you made this mistake means you never learned how to read people. Honestly, I would have thought you of all people could empathize and best help struggling souls, what happens if a student comes to you and opens their heart and you crush it without realizing it? We'd lose a student, either they'd become a villain in the same way Chizome did or worse, they'd commit suicide as well."

Toshinori looked absolutely heartbroken, and wholly aware of what Nezu was saying. Nezu couldn't exactly call himself happy with that, how does one feel happiness in such a situation, but it was the right reaction. "We have ten months before the school year starts, you need to tip the scales Toshinori and preferably in the direction of no longer being a risk to the students," Nezu said, and Toshinori nodded. "Otherwise I simply can't decide and I'll have to inform the faculty so we can come up with ways to remove the risk ourselves, and people will notice that we have you on a tight leash."

As he finished, a call came in for Nezu and he picked it up, raising his free paw to tell Toshinori to stay. "Hello, Nezu here."

"Gunhead calling, Endeavor and I just finished hitting the warehouse Bloody Mary was suspected of being at. She's not here, and I was hoping you could help map out where exactly she might be going. Also, we might need some recommendations from Recovery Girl, there's a lot of victims here who are still alive and in really bad shape."

"Collateral?"

"No, that'd probably be a blessing on some of these guys."

"I'll get on it, expect a call soon," Nezu said, hanging the phone up. Toshinori looked at him for a moment. "Bloody Mary's hideout was found but she wasn't there, she's also got a lot of victims who are still alive, could you go visit Recovery Girl and let her know to call Gunhead?"

Toshinori nodded and the two walked out of the conference room, Nezu heading for his office to start working on predicting Bloody Mary's next move. He thought about the case as he walked, listing what he knew so he'd know where to start. First off was her quirk, which was given the unofficial name of Mirror Warp, it allowed her to enter mirrors and warp to other mirrors within a range, so it was likely emitter.

She gathered people with quirks and traits that caused isolation from their peers and used them to create not only a powerful team but a literal horror show. Nezu admitted it was a good plan, from what reports he'd been allowed to look over if it wasn't for Kokku, Izuku, and Osore, they would have turned that clinic into a hero graveyard. Even the other examinees helped, taking down one of the villains after their nurse had been incapacitated.

She'd escaped with her quirk, that was always an issue with warp types, to a nearby location and joined the crowd for a moment after switching to less noticeable clothes. He stopped as he realized he was in front of his office, he smiled and got ready to work. He opened the door, walked in, and closed it behind him before locking it so he wouldn't be disturbed.

A deep breath, exhale, time to get to work.

He got a clicker from his desk and turned on a large screen before opening a program. It was a custom one he had made personally for him, it let him create a relationships board like the ones you would find on a police show or a conspiracy theorists bedroom wall without the mess of actually making one. Once it was open he got his wireless keyboard and got started.

First, he put a picture of Bloody Mary between the upper left corner and the center, surrounding it with mini pictures of her co-villains and labels over it 'Circus'. Then an image below it of the quirk assessment building, finally he placed a question mark in the middle.

"Now, you had access to an old warehouse, where you squatted in tents and a homemade house of mirrors for the effect. You like to play a role, you're theatrical." He said as he typed theatrical over the circuses head. He blew up the picture of the blind girl they'd brought in after she'd been detained by Gunhead and Death Arms. "You also either demand attention or can't fight well alone as despite the risks of going for Hikisaku after Gunhead had knocked her out, you did it anyway, which gave him a clear idea of what angle you'd appear at and he shot you."

"That you can't fight is unlikely were able to kill an officer with a broken piece of a mirror despite being covered in ballistic armor, you knew where the gap was to strike took him out before five trained officers could stop you. You need people to look up to you, to see your theatrics and enjoy or fear them. Along with covering an area and broken mirrors, sleeping in a house of mirrors, getting different members of your group to infiltrate minor parts of the clinic to capture certain zones." He said, pacing a bit in front of the screen as his mind formed ideas to work with. "You're a planner, you set things up like a director preparing a play. You also demand the spotlight, as you had your lackeys mop up the staff and turned the largest room on the first floor into a stage for you to fight on.

"Combat training, theatrical behavior, a dependence on others to praise you, you're vain and when things go wrong you only go across the street, it's might be a limit but rather than leave..." He said, entering pictures of a street, a dojo, a theater, and an image of someone being worshipped, titling each. "You stuck around to see who escaped your plot, left, and didn't go home despite there being people there, something you saw was better than what you had and you wanted it."

"On top of that there was no attempt to get back the woman locked up in the regeneration exam room, nor did you check if the enforcers in the basement were of assistance, you only cared about Hikisaku." He said as he separated the mini pictures for the other villains and labeled them expendable, while Hikisaku was labeled as valuable. "Similarly, Slit Mouths lie was exposed and cover blown so you could get Kokku away from security, you knew she had a quirk that could turn out dangerous for the people you had on the main floor but not the second floor."

He added a picture of Kokku next to the assessment clinic. "But you didn't know the Children were dangerous, which means you didn't have their files. This was planned before they arrived and the infiltrators got in on the day of the attack, unable to warn you so you could plan around them." He said as he added their pictures, Izuku, Osore, Momo, Hitoshi, Tsubame, Roy, Tetsutetsu, and Minoru. "Your team separated her, purposely broke cover, even got someone to tamper with the connections in the building's camera's to create a bad camera at your entry point to force an engineer to check on it, remove it, and let your and Hikisaku get in without setting an alarm. You wanted Slit Mouth to be called out."

He labeled the image of the slit-mouthed woman as 'scapegoat'. "She was devoted to you, most of them were, why discard them when they could easily carry a handheld mirror and you could pull them all out in the event of a failure. Losing them wasn't a risk, only she was, and you brought her in yourself." He said and blew up the picture of the blind girl again. "You demand praise and theatrics but you only liked the blind girl... she also wasn't like the rest of your group... she wasn't ugly."

Nezu grinned. "You want to surround yourself in beauty, you used the ugly and seemingly supernatural to create an act that would name you one of the most powerful villains, attract other villains to you so you could pick and choose the most appealing." He said as he connected the two with a line labeled 'beauty'. "So, now that your plan has failed you left your resources, ugly as they were, because you couldn't stand them anymore. Ugly and useless is a terrible combination but to completely abandon what you had you must have found a new resource, one you enjoyed... what did you see?"

He looked at the image of the rescued children, none of them were particularly ugly, they all looked fairly healthy for their ages. He brought the image of Hikisaku over to them. His eyes widened and he realized what she saw. "You saw two girls, just like your girl, sad and despondent, girls who were already starting to break as a result of your actions." He said as he dragged Osore and Izuku to the center. "You found 'beautiful' resources just like the one you just lost, you didn't prioritize their capture before because you didn't know they existed, once you did you decided you wanted them, with their assistance you could break out your little girl from the detention center she's in until her trial."

He went to his desk and pulled out his phone, dialing Gunheads agency to give them his hypothesis. He hoped the man had lookouts around the victims.

* * *

Izuku opened her eyes, her arms still squeezing Plushie-Gunhead. She sat up in the bed she was in slowly and looked around for a moment. It took a few seconds but soon she remembered the events of the night prior and climbed out of her mother's bed. Dinner had been nice, Mitsuki's antics with Katsuki as well as the strange but love-filled interactions of Ekitai and Nagare helped keep her mind off what happened at first but once everyone left it slowly crept back, especially the pain. She hadn't understood why she felt herself getting torn in half when she barely felt water anymore, and definitely didn't feel cuts.

So she did a quick test after her mother went to sleep, starting with a knife through her left hand. She was aware of it, she felt the cold of the metal as it penetrated her hand and the skin separating, but it felt more like pulling off dead skin a few days after a sunburn. When she pulled the knife away it neatly stitched itself up, nearly no blood spilling. Then she stabbed her stomach, right where she'd been torn and she still didn't hurt, the stitching was still immediate. What she did next she hadn't wanted to do and that her mind was afraid of it was enough for her to keep going and verify it. She stabbed her thigh, left the knife in, then while the knife kept the stitches from sealing the hole she slid her fingers into the wound and pulled it wide open.

As she pulled the skin at either end of the cut started to tear apart, the wound getting longer by an inch on either end, and it hurt. She bit her lip to keep from screaming and pulled her hands from the wound, the knife falling out as she did. The stitches formed around the cut, but the pain didn't leave as quickly, and far more stitches formed at the torn areas to make sure the flayed areas aligned perfectly. She washed her hands and the sink as best she could, then the knife, then went to her room and pulled out her hero analysis for the future notebook, volume 14, and went to her own page.

She crossed out 'deadened nerves', what she originally thought she had, and wrote that her pain receptors reacted based on severity and difficulty to heal. The more effort to seal the wound right, the more it hurt. Getting torn in half meant not only was her skin separated unevenly, meaning the stitches had to seal various different angles over the same area two stitches might work for with a straight cut. It also had to fix her internal organs, another layer of stitches, as well as realign the vertebrae so her legs would still work. Once she understood, she tried to sleep, snuggling Plushie-Gunhead and hoping she wouldn't see Kokku's face in her dreams.

She didn't see Kokku but instead watched as the monster went after her friends, herself crawling as fast as she could towards them as her lower half was missing. She woke up screaming, waking up Izuku who burst into her room and held Izuku's head to her chest, by the time Izuku stopped crying Inko had led her to her room, putting Izuku in her bed and crawling in with her. Between her mother and Plushie-Gunhead, the rest of her night was dreamless, she never thought she'd be thankful for that before the incident. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes she walked out into the main room, then to her bedroom to get some clothes.

She needed to train, to get stronger so the dream wouldn't feel so real, so possible. If it couldn't happen then maybe it wouldn't scare her.

Inko watched as her daughter walked out of her bedroom and into her own, Izuku's hair covering her eyes. She knew her daughter would continue to need help to get better, that evening before had only given her a brief reprieve. Her scream had been harrowing, she'd thought by chance Bloody Mary had come for her. She looked down into the pot of soup she was making, seeing her reflection in front of her. In her grief over Izuku's pain and the role she played in it, unable to support her dreams, she'd gained weight. Her daughter needed her now more than ever, she couldn't afford to be anything but supportive at all times... an idea came to mind, and she smiled.

Izuku came out of her room with a black shirt and shorts, as well as a sports bra. Inko looked over to her. "Izuku, honey?" Inko said, Izuku turned to her, her hair still covering her eyes. Inko saw the Gunhead plushie was still in her arms, just behind the clothes now. "You plan on training today, don't you?"

Izuku nodded. "Why don't I come with you, we could workout together?" She said, Izuku was still, her mother wanted to join her, she still supported her being a hero after what happened? Izuku nodded again tentatively, and Inko's smile grew wider. "Alright, let me get this soup finished up and fill a few thermoses, I'm sure Katsuki will want some once he smells the spices."

Inko watched Izuku nod again and head into the shower, then let a few tears fall from her eyes. Her daughter couldn't bring herself to speak, her usually happy and, while not loud, talkative daughter was silent as a mouse. It didn't fit and it hurt to not hear her voice. She took out her cell and sent a message to Gunhead to let him know where to meet them.

 **Mrs. Midoriya: My daughter trains at Dagobah Beach, we'll be going there soon and I'll be joining in her workouts, please meet us there.**

 **Gunhead: Sounds good, I'll have to send a sidekick today, I'm expecting a call from Nezu in regards to the villain who orchestrated the attack.**

 **Mrs. Midoriya: Thank you.**

She heard the shower turn on and went back to focusing on the spicy pork and mustard green soup. It was nearly done, just needed some time to simmer, so she put a lid over it and looked through her cupboards, soon finding a few thermoses to put the soup in and keep it warm. She looked at the clock, it was a quarter past nine, and as if on cue there was a knock on her door. She walked away from the soup to check the peephole and confirmed it was Katsuki coming to pick Izuku up to head to the beach. She opened the door for him and stepped out of the way. "It's good to see you Katsuki, I hope you won't mind me joining the two of you for the workout today?"

He shook his head. "No problem Aunt Inko, I think my mother is planning to join too."

Inko smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

The shower stopped running and she went to pour the soup in the thermoses. Inko prayed that this helped Izuku, just a single silent morning already hurt her more than Izuku begging her if she could be a hero when she was declared quirkless. She'd do anything to see her daughter happy as she was before the clinic again.

* * *

Himiko Toga watched as Izuku left her apartment with what she assumed was her mother, along with a blond boy and his family. It hadn't been as hard to find her as she thought it would be, she just had to scope out a hero like the ones who helped get her out of the clinic and she was set. Izuku still had that blank look on her face, her hair was tied back though in a spikey bun that let Himiko see all the little crisscrossing stitches around her face. A few of them were gone, Himiko guessed that some faded faster than others, but there was still plenty of lines for her to trace with her knife.

The five were all dressed in different colors of workout clothes, and Himiko pouted when she noticed Izuku was wearing black, black hid the blood after all. They started to jog down the sidewalk and as Izuku's clothes moved with her Himiko had a thought, if the black hides the blood, then when she plays with Izuku she'd just have to take the black off, just like she'd have to take her clothes off before becoming Izuku. She imagined holding Izuku while she was Izuku, blood smearing between the both of them and giggled, her face turning red as her eyes shined with hunger.

She decided to watch her for the day, learn about her so she could become her properly, as well as find out what to add to the gift basket she made once she had Bloody Mary's head. Himiko twirled her knife and stalked through the alleyways, occasionally looking down them to see if she was on the right path and still following Izuku. The five of them were jogging but the more she looked at Izuku the more she saw Izuku the more she seemed... lethargic, like she was purposely not doing her best, like she wanted to do more but limited herself to others.

Izuku was also very cautious, looking all around, checking places more than once. It made it hard to follow her, Himiko pouted as she didn't want to get caught by either her or the heroes. Bloody Mary must have really hurt her, so she'd definitely have to go so Izuku could feel safe and she could meet her, become her. She bit her lower lip as they came up to a beach, that would be a perfect meeting spot, anyone can show up at a beach after all. She looked around and saw a woman in a window, she seemed thin bodied, she would do.

* * *

Mitsuki blinked in surprise at the workout equipment the two had managed to make. Barbell weights, kettle weights, a punching mattress, the beginnings of an obstacle course. "Wow, you two went all out didn't you, this is pretty amazing." She said, getting a scoff from Katsuki as he went over to the trash pile rather than the weights. "Something missing?"

"I need a target, some friends helped me come up with an idea, I want to test it." He said as he looked through the trash for the right pieces for what he had in mind. First, he needed something to pierce, then something to put behind it to verify how much power was retained. A few different thicknesses of sheet metal, a mattress or two, some stoves or laundry machines to hold it all up. It didn't take long for him to spot a decent looking sheet of metal. "Hey, Izuku, lend me a hand?"

Izuku nodded and made her way over to Katsuki as their parents followed them to make sure they didn't get hurt. Inko noticed that some of the trash had been placed at the edges of the piles like stairways and a sort of barrier to help keep things from sliding around. She looked back at the children with a bit of worry as they pulled on a piece of metal sticking out from under other pieces of junk. Just before she could call out Izuku pulled and the metal slid out of the stack with no domino effect, she sighed in relief as the two headed back down. Izuku held the sheet metal as Katsuki grabbed a mattress from a pile they set aside materials they didn't need but still had some value.

Mitsuki saw Izuku look towards a clothes washer and she walked up to it, pulling it from the edge of the junk pile. Izuku pointed in the direction of the punching mattress and she started pushing it through the sand. The effort of doing so quickly showing itself, no wonder Katsuki practically collapses the moment he gets home nowadays. She panted a bit and held a thumb up once it was in place, only for Katsuki to drop the mattress next to her and start pushing the machine so it was a good ten meters behind and two meters to the left of the punching mattress. Then he took the mattress and put it on the washing machine while Izuku came with the sheet metal, four rods of rebar, and a pipe.

First Katsuki folded the mattress over the washing machine, and Izuku held the sheet metal against the front so it facing the rest of them. Katsuki took the pipe and lined it up with the bottom left corner, then slipped in a rod of rebar and capped the pipe with his hand. She heard his quirk fire off and he did the same to the right side while Izuku went to the spot Katsuki had just nailed and bent the rebar. They did this until the four corners of the metal had been nailed to the machine and mattress. "Alright, so, if this works, I'll need more targets, but for now let's get to training," Katsuki said, Izuku nodding to him before they both went to the weights while the adults looked for something to do.

Izuku went to the obstacle course and grabbed a set of dumbbells Mirio and Toshinori helped them make before they made their way home, picking out a pair for herself and a pair for her mother. Masaru decided to watch his wife Mitsuki as she did deadlifts with the barbell Izuku made for herself. "Holy crap, what did you make this with?" Mitsuki said, looking at Izuku, most of the question was out of curiosity due to the weight but a small part of it was an attempt to get Izuku to talk. Izuku looked over at her for a bit, before going back to her barbells.

"Two safes and some rebar."

"Safes, you've been lifting safes!?"

"Not just lifting mom, she does Clean and Jerks," Katsuki said, making Mitsuki stumble as Izuku did a couple tests lifts of the dumbbells before she started doing hundred meters back and forth at her full speed, similar to the beep test at school. Each 'lap' took fourteen seconds, seven forward, seven back. She needed to be faster, so she kept going as the sand was kicked up, she closed her eyes and counted the seconds in her head as the dust cloud got thick. While she did this Inko stared in shock, lifting safes, running at high enough speeds to throw up a dust storm.

She looked to the side and saw a cracked full body mirror, and nodded as she started doing the same sort of run as her daughter, though only twenty meters and upwind of the sand cloud she was making.

Mitsuki looked at her son, Katsuki, who smirked at her. She took a deep breath and rubbed her hands together before reaching down to the barbell and pulling it up, then lifting it over her head. She then brought it to the ground and smirked at Katsuki, who glared and started lifting his kettle weights with only shoulder movement. Mitsuki did a clean and jerk again and Katsuki started moving faster with his kettle weights. "Kid, you're way too young to be challenging me."

"Like hell, bring it on old hag!" Katsuki said, Masaru palming his face as Mitsuki started taunting Katsuki while doing Clean and Jerks while Katsuki started swinging his arms up and down at high speed while screaming back at her. Hearing a car pull up he turned and saw the blond UA student who wanted to help his son, Mirio, along with an emaciated man with long and messy blond hair, a baggy shirt, and baggy pants climb out of an old truck. "Don't work too hard old hag, wouldn't want your old bones to break under the pressure!"

The two of them walked up to the group, Mirio grinning widely. "Hello, it's nice to see you all again!" Mirio said, Masaru holding his hand out to shake which Mirio did. Masaru looked over at the other man and offered a handshake to him after Mirio stopped and made his way towards the others. Toshinori took the offered hand as Mirio looked at the wall of sand Izuku was kicking up. "You're getting really fast aren't you?"

"I'm Toshinori Yagi, All-Might's secretary, he's going to be training Mirio for a while so he asked me to continue following him around after the boy recommended I do some community service occasionally. Which is how we ended up meeting Izuku and Katsuki."

Masaru accepted the answer and let go of the man's hand. "If you want to help, fine, Izuku is going to need all the help she can get," Masaru said, turning away from the man to watch the girls and his son workout, he would join them but he wanted to keep an eye out, both in case someone needed to be told to relax or if someone appeared that could be a threat.

* * *

From the third floor of a condominium building Himiko pouted, having already killed the petite woman and finding the woman's bikini having fit her well, snug, but well. The reason for her pout was the number of people around Izuku was rising, and one of them had a face she was sure she'd seen on the television of one of her victims, which meant he was probably a hero and aware of her. She didn't want to go to Izuku as someone else, she might be that person but she wanted her real face to be what Izuku associated with her.

She went over to her newest victim and nudged her body with her foot, and admitted killing someone without knowing them felt kind of odd, wasteful. Even if she drank the woman's blood she wouldn't really become her, and becoming her was the whole point. Well, that and it tasted really good, and when she went too long without blood it also started to hurt. Still, she wasn't in need of a drink or a form... maybe she should have tied her up... Nah, that'd be boring.

Himiko looked out the window again before shutting the curtains and sighing in annoyance. She grabbed her victims remote and turned on the television, maybe she'd be able to watch some fun show while she waited for people to clear out. The channel the woman had last watched was some animal documentary channel, currently talking ducks. She started flipping through channels, only staying on them long enough to get an idea of what was there before deciding it sucks and moving on. She eventually got to the news channel, where a reporter was standing next to Endeavor.

"So, you took part in raiding Bloody Mary's hideout, but while you were able to arrest multiple villains the big prize wasn't there, what are your thoughts on Bloody Mary's next move?"

Endeavor glared at the woman for the reminder and Himiko giggled a bit, watching the reporter pale. "Bloody Mary lost more than a few allies today, this warehouse might be in the old Industrial district but with her false house of mirrors we also found an office that showed how she'd planned the attack on the clinic, gained insight on her quirks range, and most importantly took away a hiding place. From that house of mirrors, she was able to move not just to nearby locations but it served as a certain point in a large web that has now been torn apart." Endeavor said as Himiko made a little mouth with her hand and synced it to his words. "Gunhead has already contacted UA and I have called my own agency to start picking apart her next motive, but we can assume she'll want revenge and will blame the young boys and girls who assisted in foiling her plot at the beginning. We recommend these families cover up mirrors, or find temporary housing without a mirror until she can be found, and know we will be working until she is found and brought to justice."

"There you have it folks, straight for the number two hero, I'm Hōdō Kisha, back to you Meinu."

Himiko froze up a bit, that wasn't good for Izuku, she was in danger and if Bloody Mary got her how would she ever get to Be her. She growled and threw the remote at the television and thought to herself. Right now Izuku was away from home, running around and getting nice and sweaty on the beach with the junkyard... where people throw junk, like mirrors...

She needed to get a message to them without making them think it came from this house, she also needed to look like someone who would be nearby without killing someone. Himiko looked at her victim, she had makeup on, and her hair had a dark streak through it. She grinned and ran into the woman's bathroom, her victim had all kinds of makeup, hair dyes, and curlers. Grabbing the phone of the man who she'd become the day before, she looked up a simple tutorial to curling her hair and dying it, deciding on a nice shade of black before she got to work making herself into someone who didn't exist.

* * *

Toshinori decided to watch as Mirio joined in running with Inko, introducing himself and helping her push to her limits. He went to where Izuku was running back and forth, her speed was incredible for someone whose quirk didn't directly enhance her ability to fight, just not die as a result. She was easily clocking in at thirty miles an hour, faster than any non-speedster he'd seen her age. She also didn't spare him a second glance, just running with all her might, pushing her muscles to their limits so they'd tear apart and regrow faster, exhaustion not telling her went to stop.

At the rate she was going, her legs would give out, that would normally hurt a person but he'd seen the footage of the attack, she could recover from that stronger than before. Still, it'd be best if she didn't do that, if she did doing any other form of exercise would become difficult, so he decided to call out to her and give her an idea. "Izuku, might I offer a suggestion?" He said, he wasn't sure she'd listen to him, he'd failed to help her at the clinic and he was the reason she committed suicide. Thankfully she did slow down, eventually stopping in front of him. "Dumbbells, good, you hadn't forgotten your arms, but what about your core, before you wipe out your legs why don't you do a few crunches with your mother?"

Izuku nodded to Toshinori who watched her run over to her mother, Inko. Inko smiled at Toshinori and Mirio offered to help them, soon they were laying next to each other and Mirio held down their feet. Soon mother and daughter were doing crunches in sync with Mirio cheering them on. Toshinori decided to take a seat on one of the washing machines, to his amusement Katsuki and his mother, Mitsuki, were racing to prove who was better. They'd set the bar for each other and then switched equipment, Mitsuki using the junkyard kettle weights while Katsuki did clean and jerks with the safe barbell.

With a moment to think Toshinori thought about what had happened and what he could do to help. First, he needed to prove to Nezu that he wasn't a threat to the children of the school by way of negligent attention to their emotions. He also needed to ensure Mirio would be able to wield One for All properly, so far it was a thankful success. Chiyo theorized that since One for All had been a transformation for him and Mirio's quirk was a transformation as well, the quirk didn't need to adjust to him which allowed for a smoother transition. There was also the matter of making sure Izuku got to UA, he'd denied her dream carelessly and it had hurt her, what better way to begin making up for it than paving the way to her dream?

As they continued to workout Toshinori's eyes wandered around the junkyard, he still knew what Izuku wanted so finding a few pieces for her would be a good way to pass the time. He just hoped Gunhead and Endeavor found Bloody Mary in time, as much as he'd like to go after her himself Nezu had made it clear he wasn't to risk scaring her into a hole she wouldn't come out of. Nezu had decided part of the reason she'd felt so confident about coming out to act was because he had failed to capture the sludge monster. If he went after her that confidence might evaporate. He needed to make appearances but at the same time lay low around her stomping grounds so other heroes could take her down.

He didn't like it, but the principal had a point. Every hero had missions they weren't very good for, Endeavor wasn't good at stealth ops, Gunhead wasn't the best person to call for giants, and All-Might's reputation made it so villains who knew when to run and go to ground would disappear the moment he was on the case. Toshinori scanned the horizon for Gunhead or the heroes that would be coming to monitor Izuku, then the junkpile for any mirrors. He didn't see any himself but there was quite a lot of trash, it was possible he just didn't have the right angle.

For now, he'd focus on keeping an eye on the two families, if Bloody Mary appeared he'd be able to transform to All-Might with the residual power he had left and take her down.

"That's it, up down up down up down, work those cores!" Mirio said as he kept one hand over Mrs. Midoriyas feet and the other over Izuku's. He knew about what happened the day before, but All-Might and Sir Nighteye had called him to accept One for All alongside his own permeation quirk, to become the next Symbol of Peace, he hadn't been able to help them. He felt bad about it and had told Sir Nighteye about the fact. The man agreed that it was painful but One for All came first, Mirio both respected and hated it about the veteran hero, how he put logic over emotion to such a degree.

So when Toshinori said they'd be going to Dagobah Beach to test his power in full after the quick check at the agency proved he would be able to handle it, albeit painfully, he agreed in hopes of finding Izuku there. Mirio wanted to help her, if he couldn't help people without his power he wasn't worthy of it, it wasn't his power that made him a hero but his mind, his personality, his love for humanity. If someone wouldn't do whatever it takes to help someone without power, then you give it to someone who would. So seeing Izuku still training, her mother trying to workout alongside her, he knew how he could help. He could cheer them on so Izuku knew this was a safe place, her mother and a hero who believed in her standing beside her, and it also helped Inko keep from letting herself fall behind too much.

When he saw Inko start to struggle he let go and clapped his hands. "Okay, let's move to another exercise, it'll be great on the legs we just let rest. First, both of you stand up and face each other." He said, and Izuku and Inko did as Mirio said, he took their arms and had them hold onto each others biceps. "Alright, now, balance on your left leg, right leg up!"

Inko seemed to realize he was walking them through two person pistol squats while Izuku just mirrored her mother. "Now squat without letting your right foot touch the ground. When you get back up, swap legs and do it again!" Mirio said. Inko was able to guide Izuku from there so he took a look around, his eyes immediately catching a full-length mirror which he walked over to and pushed over, making it fall. It probably wasn't the only mirror in the junkyard either, so he decided while Inko and Izuku did squats together he would start searching for other mirrors.

Mirio walked over to Toshinori and gestured for him to follow, the man got off of his seat and headed towards him. "Something you need kid?" Toshinori said, and Mirio pointed at the mirror on the ground, then at the rest of the junkyard. He got the idea, his successor wanted to search the trash for mirrors and cover them up. "Probably a good idea, Gunhead's men should be here soon so let's get started, but be careful."

The two headed into the junkyard, Mirio carefully using his permeation quirk to move through the junk while Toshinori looked through the edges of the junkpile pile. As they did Inko and Izuku separated while Inko thought about what to do next. Her daughter's face wasn't sad or blank anymore, but frustrated. Inko felt her smile start to fall before she had an idea, she took Izuku by her wrist and went over to the mirror she'd looked into before, lifting it back and up and standing in front of it. "Izuku, look in the mirror, and let me tell you what I see." She said, standing next to Izuku as they looked at their reflections. "I see a young girl, who got hurt by the worst kind of people but didn't let it be the end of her dreams, they hurt her but she got back up and decided she wouldn't let them hurt her again."

"She's a hard worker, a tough little cookie whose always sweet to those that treat her well, sometimes she crumbles a bit, not sure what to do with people who are too rough with her, but is sweet to them too despite that." She said, her arm around Izuku's shoulders and holding her close. "Someone got a bit rough with her, and some pieces might have broken off, but that doesn't make her any less than she was. She's still the sweetest thing I know and it might not happen today, but one day all those pieces will come back together and everything will be okay again."

She saw Izuku start to tear up in the reflection, her head tilting down, and Inko stood between her and the mirror, putting her hands on her shoulders. "You're Izuku, my daughter, and no matter what those villains do you will always be my hero, and they won't stop you from being the best hero this world has ever seen." She said, getting Izuku to look back at her again, a small smile on her face. Inko smiled back at her and held her arms out for a hug when Izuku's face changed, turning terrified at something behind her before she grabbed Inko and threw her to the side.

Inko rolled a bit in the sand and heard the sound she'd become familiar with thanks to Izuku's new quirk, the sound of something cutting into flesh. She heard Mitsuki scream and picked herself up, her eyes looking for Izuku. She was still in front of the mirror, with the head of a fireman's ax buried between her neck and collarbone.

"Izuku!"

* * *

Toshinori and Mirio spun at the sound of the scream, followed by Inko calling out Izuku's name. Toshinori let go of the mirror he was about to move only to feel something grab him and pull him back. Before he could activate what was left of One for All he found himself in the middle of a women's bathroom. He activated his quirk and smashed the mirror before bolting out as quickly as he could. Mirio did the same, using Permeation to move through the junk as he had before, not looking where he was walking until he stepped on a fallen mirror.

When he didn't stop moving downward after passing through a fridge he tried to stop by canceling his quirk, only to realize it wasn't his when he caught the reflection of the sun from the mirror underneath him, and then he was in the middle of a condominium bathroom where a man was showering. He apologized and activated both Permeation and One for All, falling through the floor and getting ready to make a break for the beach.

* * *

Izuku tried to move her arms, only her left responding. She reached up and pulled the ax from her body, the stitches forming quickly to fix the damage as she fell backward, her legs non-responsive as the ax had severed her spine. She heard Katsuki roar in anger and explosions go off as she lifted her head. Out of the mirror walked a woman with red hair styled and tied behind her head, glossy skin that shined in the sunlight, and a white Victorian dress stained at the sleeves Izuku's blood.

"Dear little girl, rejoice, for I have come to show you your destiny!" Bloody Mary said, a six-inch-long knife with a mirror sheen in one hand, the other hand reached out as if to help Izuku up.

Izuku felt new tears forming in her eyes.

* * *

 **Omake 2 : Relationship Goals /or/ Where the Dendo's are**

"My dearest Nagare, you look positively magnificent!" Ekitai said, kneeling before her as he kissed up her leg. "Your dress, your hair, the rope so tightly wound around your arms and body!"

"What the hell's going on, dude, where's the random money?"

"In a minute, can you not See, that I am Speaking, With, my Wife!?" Ekitai said, his face purple as his words roared from his mouth and echoed across the alley. He then turned back to his wife with a blushing face and eyes filled with adoration. "My love, please, tell me, did they hurt you, did they... torture you?"

"Sic amica mea." Nagare said calmly with half-lidded eyes and a serene smile on her face. Ekitai gasped and shuddered with excitement.

"That's latin, oh Nagare!" Ekitai said, kissing her ankle, then slowly standing up.

"Ekitai..." Nagare said as Ekitai's lips came towards hers.

"Nagare!" Ekitai said as their lips brushed against each other, so soon to kiss.

"Seriously old man, where, the fucks, our money!?"

Ekitai froze, his head slowly turning his head to the thugs that had kidnapped his wife and demanded a ransom for her safe return. He spun to face them suddenly and held out a hand. Electricity arced forward and took the form of a Celtic anthropomorphic sword.

"You sir, shall not interrupt my wife and I again!" He said as he rushed to them, electical blade in hand, howling with madness. He slashed and swung like a man without sense, the thugs unable to react as the blade ignored their weapons and made them convulse as it struck them.

Soon they had all fallen, either spasming on the ground or having run off in terror of the blue skinned man with eyes as black as the moonless night.

He turned to his wife, panting as his body started to calm, his footfalls heavy as he stalked towards her.

"Ekitai, you animal, you tore through them like a raging demon, a soldier from hell with no mercy or reason... you frightened me..." She said, her face red as she looked down to him with hungry eyes. "Take me home... I wish to see it again."

Ekitai smirked up at her and threw her over his shoulder. "Ar ndóigh, mo ghrá."

Osore looked at all the thugs around her and let out a soundless sigh before she following behind her parents, feeling like she was missing something important.


	10. Bloodstained Sands

_Circus of Horrors Arc : Bloodstained Sands._

 **Warning : Graphic Scenes ahead. Skippable scene.**

* * *

Katsuki wasn't thinking at the moment, he was well aware of that. He didn't decide to move, he didn't decide to use his quirk. First, he saw his mothers face, then he heard flesh being chopped by something, then he heard Inko scream Izuku's name.

Then he was standing between her and some bitch with a knife reaching out to Izuku, both hands out and his quirk already activating. The sweat he'd worked up lifting weights with his mother working to his advantage. Both hands set of a single explosion each, using every drop of sweat from his fingertips to his wrist, the twin shockwaves threw sand and junk forward, clearing part of the beach while flames scorched everything in front of him, catching onto flammable objects in the junkyard and echoing the roar of the initial blast.

Katsuki grit his teeth, even with the extra workouts the last week or so it still hurt to fire off a blast that strong. As the dust died down he didn't see her the woman, just her knife in the sand. "Did I get her?"

As if waiting for him to ask an arm, followed by the rest of the woman, came out of the blade of the dagger, picking it up and dusting it off. "Never ask that darling, it never ends well." She said before flipping the knife in her hand before throwing it, her body disappearing into the blade just before she let go. It flew at him and he formed a circle with one hand and put it in front of the other, trying to aim at the blade and blast it away.

Instead the woman, Bloody Mary Katsuki reminded himself, came out of the blade, grabbed it, and went to slash him. Izuku reacted before he could, leaping from the ground and putting herself in the way of the knife. He could hear it cut into her neck, a wet gurgle as she attempted to say something.

Katsuki changed tactics, putting an arm around Izuku and facing a hand towards Bloody Mary who seemed to be delaying her return to the bloodsoaked knife.

He lifted his legs and set off an explosion, putting distance between the two of them and Bloody Mary. "Izuku, are you alright!?" He said as she coughed up blood as stitches formed over her throat. He looked up to where Bloody Mary should be to see her coming from her knife, but he saw burn marks on her clothes. She must not have been fast enough to avoid the explosion.

"Y-Yeah, are you?" She said as she wiped the blood from her lips. He nodded while the woman glared at them, gripping her knife with anger. He nodded to Izuku as he helped her back up, he heard running footsteps and saw Izuku looked behind them out of the corner of his eye. When she did Bloody Mary moved, throwing her knife and disappearing into it again. He went for a wide blast rather than precision, his arms protesting a bit with residual pain for his first blast. It had been bigger than he was ready for and so was this blast, he couldn't keep up this level of damage.

Still, it caught the knife and threw it back, only for him to see something glint from the junk pile. He moved before he tried to recognize it, and was lucky to just get a small cut to his ear. It stung but it could have been worse, but why didn't she appear from the blade. He felt someone pull him and saw Bloody Mary with her first knife thrusting a blade where his head would have been.

Then he saw Izuku go to grab her arm only for Bloody Mary to smirk, he reacted and grabbed Izuku, pulling her from Bloody Mary as the woman disappeared into the blade. It traveled a bit further and Bloody Mary reappeared from the blade. "Izuku, she's after you damn it, if you're holding onto her she'll warp and you'll go with her!"

"Such a smart young lad you've found for yourself dear, and a powerful quirk too, I've never really been one to choose between two beautiful people so I think I'll take you bo-"

The woman didn't get to finish as she was forced to dodge Mitsuki throwing one of the microwave kettlebells at her. "You dar-" Bloody Mary started only to be forced to dodge again as Mitsuki closed in on her and threw punch after punch. Bloody Mary eventually gave up on her monologue to fight back.

Katsuki formed a circle with one hand and put it in front of his palm like the barrel of a gun, using the base knuckle of his middle finger, as well as his flat hands middle and index fingers to create an 'iron'-sight aiming for Bloody Mary's knife, if they could get it off her not only would she be without a weapon, she'd have no way to use her quirk.  
"Where the hell are Gunheads extras when you need them!?" He said as he started focusing the sweat on his palms into the circle. He imagined a small fireball, propelled by a shockwave, forming the sweat of the hand he'd curled into a circle to be more incendiary while the sweat on his palm to be more bang than fire.

He ignited both and launched a glowing hot blast, it flew fast but it was new to him, it went wide, buzzing past the woman's hair and only causing a distraction for his mother to use, getting out of Bloody Mary's striking range. He realized he should probably be thankful his mother is actually pretty good in a fight, Izuku had moved but he didn't see where. He hoped for a moment she had run away to safety only to see her run-in with the fireman's ax that had been buried in her shoulder at the start. "Izuku!"

He ran after her as Bloody Mary dodged Mitsuki's attempts to smash a fist into her face, dancing around her with her blade, cuts starting to little Mitsuki's cheeks, arms, and knuckles. Inko looked and found the knife the woman had thrown before, the blade buried in the sand. Bringing it to herself with her quirk she saw the reflective blade and wondered why the woman hadn't attempted to use it. A thought ran through her mind and she threw it back down into the sand and buried it with her foot.

"Cover the blade!" Inko said as loudly as she could, Mitsuki not questioning the idea from her friend and thrusting her palm at the knife as Bloody Mary went to stab her. The blade pierced into the Mitsuki's hand, making her scream before she closed her hand around the villain's hand. Bloody Mary's eyes widened, with no light reaching the blade there was no reflection to warp through. She went to pull the blade back out when Izuku came up to them and tried to chop off Bloody Mary's arm with the ax.

The villain growled and let go of the knife to avoid her arm being chopped off, only for dozens of small fireballs to start flying around and past her. Katsuki had made a split second decision, if he can't Aim the new trick, he'd just start launching as many as he could, as fast as he could. What did most games call it? Bullet hell, he'd put her into a live-action recreation of a bullet hell game.

Izuku put herself between Bloody Mary and Mitsuki, both hands on the fireman's ax while Mitsuki dropped to her knees, panting heavily as her husband ran up to her. "That, might... not my best plan... fuck this hurts." She said as the adrenaline that pushed her to be able to do what she did began to taper off now that Bloody Mary wasn't directly trying to kill her. Said Villain dodged between Katsuki's poorly aimed blasts, the shots were random unlike Mitsuki's feints and counters but there was so many she couldn't move towards Izuku, where Katsuki was firing from beside.

The shots also kicked up dust, giving Bloody Mary a chance to run to the junk pile and towards a new mirror shard. As she got out of the dust cloud Katsuki turned and started firing towards her, but the inaccuracy of the shots made it pointless. He cursed and was about to run towards her when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Good work kid, let us take it from here." Retribution said as two other heroes ran after Bloody Mary. Katsuki grit his teeth but nodded, and Izuku ran over to them, still carrying the ax. Mitsuki, Inko, and Masaru weren't far behind. Once they'd gotten together Izuku found herself being checked over intensely by her mother while Katsuki had to look away, finally noticing something.

The initial hit from the fire ax had cut most of Izuku's shirt, and her bra had been cut slightly as well. Mitsuki starting looking him over as well, while Retribution gave them a few seconds before speaking. "Alright, you five need to get out of here, reports of quirk usage hit HQ while the monitoring group was on its way here." He said as he started popping his knuckles one by one. "Realizing what was happening thanks to a call from UA's principal Nezu, they were rerouted and we were sent to try and take her out, they're creating a route for you to escape through. Head home and on the way there Gunhead will catch you and lead you to a safe house."

The parents nodded and Izuku and Katsuki found themselves being pulled away while Retribution made his way to his fellow heroes. The two kids had done rather well in the face of danger, now it was his turn to get rid of the danger. When he got to the junk he saw his teammates slow down and took a moment to remember who they were.

Pro-Hero Coagulate, her quirk, also called Coagulate, allowed her to control her blood in small quantities outside of her body, as well as crystalize it. She carried a specialized repeater crossbow, rather than having to hold it at her waist and repeatedly pull a lever like a normal repeating crossbow the lever was automated with her pulling the trigger. Combined with her quirk allowing her to form various bolt heads and could fire everything from a tip-less bolt to a bolt whose head would break apart once it pierced and go into your bloodstream, forcing heart attacks.

Both of her arms were covered in white armor, with tubes connecting them together and a single tube from her right forearm connected to the crossbow. Her legs and torso had similar white armor but with a red cross over her chest. He wasn't sure what her face looked like as she wore a dome-shaped helmet.

Pro-Hero Hand of Harmony, in his black and white aikidogi, ran beside her, eyes scanning for Bloody Mary, the two worked different paths of the hero life but when the two paths crossed villains often regretted it. Hand of Harmony was terrifying in a direct fight, skilled at forcing people to do what he wanted them to do, which opened them up for Retribution to slam a fist into them and that was checkmate.

He'd lost an eye in the clinic, however, which gave him a blindside. Coagulate was with them for covering fire and keep an eye Hand of Harmony's blindside, while the two of them put Bloody Mary down and behind bars. That or down and six feet under, they did have the go-ahead on that.

Slit-Mouth had already been executed, and the other survivors were locked in Tartarus. Given the stories he supposed Slit-mouth had been given a mercy killing compared to her cohorts. One they didn't want to give to Bloody Mary.

"Boss Fight dead ahead." Coagulate said, most of the trash had formed a white crescent, almost like a stage, dozens of reflective surfaces were scattered throughout, with Bloody Mary standing in the middle like some sort of actress. It literally looked like a video game boss fight...

"Oh god she's one of those isn't she?"

"She is."

"Heroes, you have come to your end, soon your blood will soak the sands and I will have that girl under my heel!"

"She's going to start monologuing, really?" Hand of Harmony said as Retribution ran past him. Like hell he was listening to some makeup covered psychopath predict his death when all he needed to do was land a blow. As he ran he noticed there was a number of shards in the sand, the kid's quirk must have blown up a few mirrors.

"I will be-" Before she could finish Retribution took a swing at her, aiming for her shoulder only for her to warp from the shard she was standing on to a shard behind him. She moved to cut into his back with another dagger, only to receive three crossbow bolts on her shoulder. She screamed and Retribution spun to attack her. Before he could land a blow however she'd disappeared and the shard she'd been holding started to fall. Retribution hit the shard and snapped to activate his quirk, the shard shattered into dust.

He saw Hand of Harmony move and kick something next to him, hearing flesh strike against flesh. He turned to see Bloody Mary flipping back, a dagger in hand. He briefly wondered where she got it when the man spoke. "She's going to warp to an apartment she's set up a few mirrors in, there are weapons and there's a window that I can just see the ocean out of. Find her warp area and shut it down."

Linked to Whisper then, should have thought about that. It might also be why she hasn't run off yet, she knows her main base is gone, but if she can kill off a couple heroes low-level villains go to her for protection and fame, she could rebuild.

She was cornered, running isn't an option as far as she's concerned, too many failures and she'll always be a low-class villain. Her theatrical need to be awe-inspiring and feared kept her in the corner, for now, they had to drop her before survival instincts took over and forced her to run. As predicted she stepped to another mirror fragment and warped away, Hand of Harmony already turning to find where she'd warp to. Retribution's eyes were drawn to a glimmer behind Hand of Harmony and he moved to intercept.

"Six!"

Bloody Mary had warped between the two hoping to catch Hand of Harmony off guard with a dagger thrust to the back of the neck, but he was already ducking under the strike. Hand of Harmony turned and hit the woman's stomach, forcing her back a few steps before she warped away again. "She's tangling with you next Retribution, drag her to me."

"Four!" Coagulate said and Retribution spun clockwise, right hand extended to grab Bloody Mary's arm. He heard a sound of surprise as he caught and twisted her wrist, forcing the dagger out of her hand and then using her momentum to lead her forward. Hand of Harmony spun into a back kick as Retribution let go of Bloody Mary, the sole of his foot slamming into her forehead. Retribution then turned counterclockwise to strike Bloody Mary's right pectoral, the initial kick and follow up punch throwing her back. She warped again and Hand of Harmony turned his head to Coagulate.

"Six!"

She dived forward and rolled as Bloody Mary appeared behind her, attempting to slice into the heroes waist but only managing to brush the tip of her dagger over the woman's armor. Coagulate spun and fired another blood crystal tipped bolt, aiming for the villain's upper arm, the shot flying through the air instead as the woman warped away and came back behind her again.

Retribution rushed forward as Bloody Mary kicked Coagulate onto her side and straddled her, both hands on her dagger as she thrust down at the woman's neck. The tip of the blade just starting to draw blood before he tackled her off of his fellow hero and started to punch her biceps and shoulders, getting only a few hits in on the stunned woman before she warped again. "Fucking warp quirks... I'm bringing her down, be ready to disable her legs."

Coagulate nodded, holding her slightly bleeding neck with one hand while Hand of Harmony looked down and closed his eyes, knowing what was about to happen and not wanting to see it. Bloody Mary did reappear but a distance away from them. She looked like she was about to start taunting or monologuing, Retribution didn't know or care. He brought his hand up and snapped his fingers as Coagulate fired three bolts at the woman's right knee.

Bloody Mary screamed as the skin on her shoulders, biceps, and right wrist twisted itself apart, tearing muscle and flesh in an explosion of gore. Both arms fell limp at her side as blood poured down her arms and dripped rapidly onto the sand. She fell to her side as the bolts pierced through her kneecap and ruined the joint of her right knee one by one. Bloody Mary's face twisted from her calm and lethal expression to one filled will malice and rage, glaring at the three of them like a wild animal about to lash out.

Then the sand exploded behind her, forcing the three heroes to cover their eyes.

"Now what..." Coagulate said as the sand died down, revealing All-Might and Lemillion, though Lemillion looked... bigger than he'd seen reports of, and his cowlick was spiky as hell. "The hell, All-Might?"

 **"Villain, you have been defeated, they have stopped you and we've taken away your escape route, you'll find no mirror shards in the sand any longer,"** All-Might said, Lemillion nodding beside him. The woman looked between the Retribution and All-Might, her rage growing faster and faster, Retribution thought her head might explode before she got the chance to scream at them with how red she was getting.

"No!" She said, and he sighed, no such luck, she's going to monologue again. "This, is not my destiny, I'll escape and end you all, she will be mine, my pet, my dog to lick my boots and devour my enemies. She and her blue friend will belong to me, Bloody Mary!"

That's when he saw a coming down towards Bloody Mary, he started to move as the object hit the sand next to her. They all looked at it, a piece of a mirror taped onto a frisbee. She grinned and put her hand on it. "I will not be beaten today!" She said just before Retribution could tackle her away from the mirror shard, disappearing to the mirror the shard had come from rather than lock onto a position.

Retribution hit the sand in anger as he heard Hand of Harmony begin giving orders to Whisper through their link, while Lemillion began searching through the area for another mirror and All-Might stated he'd head to Izuku's location in the event that was where the crippled woman was going. "Damn it, let's hope she's still close by…" He said as he snapped his fingers.

* * *

Bloody Mary fell to the ground as she warped from the mirror shard to the easiest mirror nearby for her to warp to. She noted it smelt like hair dye as she forced herself onto her knees and gasped for air. The pain in her arms was unbearable, so much so she could barely warp properly. She stood up and tried to go to the mirror she warped to only to find a girl with wet, recently dyed red hair, dressed in a cardigan and school girl outfit.

"Hi, I guess my aim wasn't off huh, did you like it?"

Bloody Mary smiled, such a pretty pet she'd make. She let the girl grab onto her and moved back to the mirror, heading to one of the few safehouses she was able to make before she attempted to catch that girl. It was the furthest from the beach and she would have warped to it first but with the pain in her arms and stomach she had panicked... wait... when did her stomach start hurting.

There was a giggle and she realized her lower body and legs felt wet as something started to pull from her stomach. She choked on air as she fell forward, her arms useless to keep her from hitting her head. "You, Hurt, Izuku," Himiko said as she kicked Bloody Mary over and onto her back, the woman screaming from the pain of the kick. "You hurt Izuku, my Izuku, I can't forgive that... I didn't throw that mirror so you could get away... no, the heroes would just cuff you and pat you on your back..."

Himiko started stomping on the stab wound she'd given the woman. "But you, Hurt, Izuku, My Izuku, only I get to hurt Izuku and make her beautiful!" She said, nearly screaming at the end as she dug her heel into Bloody Mary's stomach. Then she smiled and held up her knife. "But I'm going to punish you and ruin you and make it all better for her, I'm going to cut you up over and over until all you can do is smell and feel and lock you in a box and put you in a dark dark room that's never seen the light of day and then I'm going to soak that room in gasoline and light everything on fire and leave you to die, your last thoughts being of how your burning flesh smells and how the fire burns!"

* * *

 **Dark scene ahead**

* * *

She drove the knife into Bloody Mary's mouth, grinning with bright wide as she dug the knife into the woman's gums and began breaking each and every tooth out from her jaw before cutting away the woman's cheeks and tongue. "You won't taste the smoke, you won't hear the smoke." She said as Bloody Mary's screams turned wet, unable to push the strong girl off of her as her arms were useless. She put the knife down and grabbed Bloody Mary's ears, ripping them from her head before she noticed the woman's breathing was off.

She put her hands where Bloody Mary's cheeks used to be and began applying CPR once she realized the woman was drowning in her own blood. Bloody Mary coughed out her own blood and found herself being flipped over, the blood from her ruined mouth and face pouring onto the floor as she felt and heard something sharp start digging into her ears before she stopped hearing anything.

Himiko grinned and pulled Bloody Mary's head up so she could see her own reflection, her face ruined beyond anything she'd seen before as Himiko brought the blade under the woman's left eye and starting cutting away her eyelids, then repeated the process to the other eye. Bloody Mary was sure she was screaming but all she could do was watch deaf to even herself as Himiko brought the knife back to her right eye and dug it out of her face, leaving it ruined on the floor as she moved onto the next one. Blind, Deaf, her mouth decimated, Bloody Mary couldn't understand why this was happening. She was going to be great, adored by her precious little pets taking care of her every need while the plebeians quaked in fear of her anger and whims.

She felt it as the girl dug the knife into her leg and started cutting away, the pain slowly climbing to match her arms. She felt the world getting colder as she bled out, momentarily wondering why it took this long before deciding it didn't matter. At least her killer wouldn't get the satisfaction of burning her alive.

Himiko blinked as she felt Bloody Mary stop breathing underneath her before shrugging and putting all of the teeth, pieces of flesh, and eyes next to Bloody Mary's face and took a picture with the cell she'd stolen a few victims ago, then a selfie with the remains. "There, now I can show Izuku it was me that saved her... now to find out where I am and send it to the police so she can know she's safe..." She said as she looked around. No gasoline but the woman was in a pretty big dress... Himiko shattered the mirrors and broke the wooden frames, stabbing them into Bloody Mary's corpse before taking out a lighter she found at the condominium and setting the Victorian dress on fire.

* * *

 **Scene over**

* * *

She hummed a song to herself as she walked out of the room and found she was in a small condemned house a few miles from Dagobah Beach. She took the form of the condominium woman, having drunk her blood while watching the fight on the beach, and called the police to report that she'd seen Bloody Mary in the second floor of the house.

As the operator picked up and she starting putting on the hysterics, she wondered how Izuku was doing.

* * *

Izuku sat in a room Gunhead had taken her, her mother Inko, Katsuki, and Katsuki's parents Mitsuki and Masaru, to keep them safe from Bloody Mary. There were no windows, no mirrors, and only one way into the room. In that one passage was Nezu, principal of UA, All-Might, and Gunhead.

"I'm going to head back to the scene of the crime, assist Mirio in his attempts to find who threw that mirror shard to Bloody Mary," All-Might said, getting a nod from the other two as he walked off. Gunhead looked at Nezu, who had been waiting at the agency while they arrived. The principal had explained he was hoping to speak with Izuku and Katsuki and offer something to try and bring down the mental trauma of the attack.

"You want me to introduce you to two young teenagers, with their parents, who were just attacked by a villain, one of which being the villains kidnapping target, while they're in the middle of processing the attack and calming down, so you can give them more to process?" Gunhead said, and Nezu rubbed the back of his head with a paw. The hero shook his head at the principal of UA. "No way, maybe once we can declare things safe, as it is we're not sure if they're going to be long term residents or not."

Nezu sighed. "I understand, could I stick around for a while then, in case things turn out well I could make my offer when you break the good news to them." He said as they walked to Gunheads office. Gunhead had an idea as to what Nezu might offer and was somewhat sure Izuku would accept it, but he didn't want to overload her. As they came to the office he pulled open a minifridge and grabbed a beer for himself and a can of decaf tea, tossing the tea to Nezu. "Guess we wait until Whisper gets some news then, in the meantime I imagine you want to know about her? Go ahead and ask while I check status on the teams we sent to the other clinic victims."

Katsuki watched as Izuku held onto her mother for dear life. The room Gunhead had taken them to was nice enough, it had beds, a television, a small kitchen, two bathrooms with no mirrors. His mother was fast asleep, her head on his dad's lap after the support heroes bandaged her minor wounds and healed the major one in her arm. He was leaning on one of the walls, watching them, and he didn't like it. Standing still felt wrong, they were just attacked by a villain and he was standing here doing nothing.

He didn't like it. Izuku's barely holding herself together and he can't help her if he's standing around, he needed to do something. At the same time, he can't just walk out and demand to help find Bloody Mary. He also had to bottle up the anger so he didn't look like a threat or make Izuku feel worse, the last thing he wanted right now is to trigger her memories of his bullying. So when the door to the room flew open he was already on a hair trigger, and he spun to the door with both hands at the ready to blow up whatever the hell couldn't be bothered to knock.

"Izuku, are you alri-gah!"

"Idiot, don't just barge-Osore!"

Katsuki just stared at the group of three in front of him as Osore ran over to Izuku and latched onto her. The first one in was a muscular guy with silver hair and thicker than normal eyelashes, wearing a gunmetal grey shirt, black cargo pants, and running shoes. The one who hit him was a taller girl with long black hair tied into a ponytail, wearing a red, sleeveless dress and heels. Finally, behind both of them was a really tired looking guy with messy indigo hair in a purple shirt and beige pants looking straight at him.

"Hey, I'm Hitoshi, and these two are Tetsutetsu and Momo, we met Izuku at the clinic." He said as Tetsutetsu started apologizing for being impolite. Momo, on the other hand, saw Izuku and immediately locked onto her, walking over to check on her. Katsuki lowered his hands and scoffed, going back to leaning on the wall while Tetsutetsu followed after Momo. Once everyone was in the room Katsuki sighed and felt a spark of annoyance, why did she have to be an extras magnet.

"Hitoshi, not to be rude but are your parents with you?" Masaru said as the tired looking boy came into the room, hands in his pockets. Hitoshi looked around, seeing a three-way hug between Osore, Izuku, and who he assumed to be Izuku's mother, with Momo rubbing Izuku's back and Tetsutetsu swearing to protect them. He looked back at Masaru and nodded to him.

"They're at the rooms we'll be staying in if they don't find the one who did this." He said as he walked over to the same wall Katsuki was leaning against, keeping a good three feet between them before leaning on it as well. Katsuki looked over at Hitoshi and felt an eyebrow twitch. He followed Hitoshi's gaze to find it landing on Izuku, making him want to start questioning him only for Hitoshi to speak first. "So, what's your relation to Izuku?"

"We've been friends since childhood, our mothers knew each other, what's it to you?" Katsuki said, and Hitoshi nodded his head in response, but not answering. It annoyed Katsuki's nerves, which were already frayed between everything going on and the other boy bursting in without notice. "Well?"

"Izuku's my friend, she's wasn't afraid to talk with me at the clinic despite my quirk. She actually got excited at the idea of experimenting with it." Hitoshi said, his eyes not leaving Izuku, who was starting to pull from her mother to response to Osore, Momo, and Tetsutetsu. He smiled at a bit and waved when she looked over at him. "It's brainwashing, I can take control of people when they respond to me."

"Huh, that'd have been useful, could have told that bitch to smash her face against the pavement..." Katsuki said, getting a look from Hitoshi. Katsuki looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. "What, according to Gunhead she was the one behind the clinic. She attacked Izuku, would have killed Aunt Inko, nearly killed my mother, she deserves a mouthful of concrete."

Hitoshi decided not to argue that. At least he hadn't gone straight to a villainy comment. "I'm half surprised you're still talking to me, knowing my quirk."

"If Izuku decided you're cool enough to let you brainwash her... well, okay, that doesn't actually say much," Katsuki said, Izuku probably would trust a hippo not to kill her as she rushed over to and started snuggling the hippos baby, in the middle of the river. "If Gunhead let you in here, you're probably not some idiot thinking about being a villain."

"Works for me... You've known her longest, any ideas on how to cheer her up?"

Katsuki was silent, as that wasn't a question he was sure he could answer. He'd effectively ruined her life over their younger years, still, he did know her rather well. "When we were growing up she was fond of All-Might, she still is but she's been fonder of Gunhead lately, three guesses as to why," Katsuki said as he watched Izuku and Osore interact, Tetsutetsu still trying to look the part of a strong friend to help her feel safe while Momo kept looking at Katsuki and Hitoshi. "Any reason she keeps checking on us?"

"Her quirk is Creation, she can make stuff, might be looking for a hint of what to make her. She also gave Izuku some makeup tips so they had more chances to talk about each other's past." Hitoshi said, and Katsuki straightened up off the wall and walked towards Momo.

"Good enough for me, hey, build-a-bear, mind if we talk for a minute?" Katsuki said, getting a look of surprise from Momo and a snort from Hitoshi as the boy covered his mouth to stifle any further sounds of amusement. Momo then nodded and walked over to Katsuki, who led her to the bathroom. He opened the door and gestured for her to go first. "So she doesn't hear anything, happy surprise and all that."

Momo nodded stiffly as she walked into the bathroom, Katsuki following behind her. Once they were in Momo looked at him with a mild glare, Katsuki guessed Izuku must have mentioned something at the clinic and after hearing he was her childhood friend was connecting rather unflattering dots. Fine by him, he didn't need her to like him, he just needed her quirk since his quirk wasn't any good at giving direct comfort. "You didn't protect her from bullies?"

"The bullying started when she was four and declared quirkless, I started it and was the one of the worst until recently, when I got a bit of a reality check," Katsuki said, admitting it straight out, getting a harsher glare. He scoffed at the aggressive look on her face, he'd given himself worse in the mirror. He put his hands in his pockets and shook his head. "I don't care if you hate me, hell, I hate me so if you didn't I'd tell you to get the fuck out but right now Izuku doesn't need us at each other's throats. I have an idea and your quirk might be able to help."

She glared at him before huffing and looking away. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

"Izuku's a big fan of Gunhead, so after we learned about the incident at the clinic I got her a Gunhead plushie at the local hero merch shop. We had to leave it behind after we got attacked, there's also a couple other heroes that might make her feel better so to start, can you make plushies?"

* * *

Izuku would be lying if she said she wasn't worried about Katsuki and Momo being alone in a room, Katsuki could be abrasive and Momo didn't seem like the type to take abrasive people in stride. Momo also might have realized Katsuki was one of the people who bullied her and while Izuku didn't mind, her searching as a kid told her sometimes friends teased each other after all, Momo seemed to dislike the very idea of them and might confront him.

Confronting Katsuki usually ended... badly, and loudly, and with things broken and on fire.

There was also the fact Katsuki called her out directly, he doesn't do that to people he likes. He'd been different lately though, not teasing her as much and she admitted it was nicer than when he was teasing her. She wasn't sure what was about to happen. She gave Hitoshi a worried look, but he just shrugged. "Don't worry, I'm sure they're just planning something," Hitoshi said, pulling himself from the wall and walking over to pat her shoulder.

Katsuki then opened up the door to the bathroom with a replica of the Gunhead-Plushie he'd gotten her the day before in his arms, while Momo followed out behind him with a notebook and pencil under her arm. Katsuki walked over to Izuku and shoved the plushie into her arms before heading back to the wall he was leaning on before, turning his head away from Izuku as Momo walked up to her.

"Izuku, Katsuki said you're fond of analyzing hero quirks and coming up with useful ways they can be implemented." She said, causing Izuku to blush and bury her face into the Gunhead plushie. Tetsutetsu's quirk activated as he tensed up behind her, Osore looking over at him as he did. "I was curious if you'd like to hear about my quirk, Creation, I feel like I've hit something of a wall in how to use mine."

Izuku was suddenly animated as Osore let go of her to check on Tetsutetsu. Before Momo knew it Izuku had her arms and legs around the plushie with the notebook and pen in her hands. "That would be awesome, it looked really cool when you made the makeup and ribbons you put in my hair!"

"Wait there was a ribbon in her hair and I didn't get to see it?" Katsuki said, getting a smug grin from Hitoshi. "You bastard!"

Momo giggled a bit as Osore waved her hands in front of Tetsutetsu's face, with no reaction. "Alright, so, my quirk is called Creation, I can rearrange the molecular structure of the lipid cells in my body, pushing them to the surface of my skin and creating anything I understand the molecular makeup of," Momo said as Osore poked Tetsutetsu, causing him to fall over with a loud crash, still as a statue. Izuku wrote down what Momo was telling her as Katsuki burst into laughter and Osore silently started panicking. "It's easiest to create things from my lower stomach, as that's where most of the fat cells my body produces go.

"Does it have to exist?" Izuku said as Osore lifted Tetsutetsu off the ground and started pushing him back onto his feet, still as stiff as a statue. Momo looked at Izuku with a blank face, like she didn't understand what Izuku meant. "Like, Leonardo Di Vinci created blueprints for devices that could fly and armored war vehicles like tanks. The science and math was all correct but they couldn't be made until much later because while he could think them up and do the math to prove it possible, we didn't have the materials or technology, could you make things that we know are possible, but just don't have the technology to make happen yet?"

Momo stared at Izuku in shock as Izuku waited for an answer, then decided to start drawing an image of Momo next to the notes she'd taken. As Momo started to think about it Osore managed to get Tetsutetsu back onto his feet and started dusting him off. Once she decided Tetsutetsu was back to how he was before she knocked him over she went back to Izuku and sat down, watching as Izuku drew Momo.

"That... well, if I had the molecular structure... if we don't know it I suppose I could attempt making different combinations until one worked..." Momo said as she started contemplating the idea. She'd never tried to do something like that, her mother didn't let her do 'frivolous' things when she could be studying or practicing other fundamental skills, like cooking or combat training. "... I've never tried?"

"You've never tried to make the tools comic heroes use?"

"I don't know any?"

Izuku, Osore, Masaru, Inko, Katsuki, and Hitoshi stared at her, Mitsuki still asleep in Masaru's lap and Tetsutetsu still a statue. "I'm sorry, my family comes from a long line of heroes and my mother wants me to follow the same path, so she keeps me on a strict schedule of etiquette training, schooling from hand-picked professors, combat training. I haven't had the time to read comics or go to festivals..."

"Hold on, your mother knew your quirk is 'I can think it, I can make it' and then didn't give you time to think anything up, just shoved blueprints at you?" Hitoshi said, his eye twitching. "You could make anything you can figure out and she didn't give you a chance to come up with your own ideas?"

"And she's part of a hero family?" Katsuki said before scoffing. "You sure she wants you to be a big-time hero?"

Momo gave the two a short glare before looking back at Izuku, who had filled up the first pages and was moving onto the next. "What about you, is there anything neat you're able to use your quirk for?" Momo said, Izuku looked up and smiled while Inko, Katsuki, and Masaru paled. Momo gave Inko a confused look as Izuku put a few fingers in her mouth. Momo looked back at Izuku as she did that "Izuku, what are you do-"

"Izuku no!" Katsuki said just a moment too late, Izuku bit the fingers off her hand. Momo gasped while Osore starting animatedly flailing her arms, Hitoshi's eyes going wide as his mouth fell open as if limp. Tetsutetsu was finally startled out of his statuesque shock to make a high pitched noise as he held his hands out to her as if asking why. Izuku then spat her fingers out and strings of muscle caught them, reattaching them to her hand. "Idiot..."

"I can cut pieces of me off and use them as grappling hooks!"

Osore looked at the stitches in wonder as Tetsutetsu passed out, Momo still looking at Izuku's hand in horrified shock. Hitoshi turned to Katsuki. "I blame you."

"Welcome to the club, send me your mugshot and I'll get you an I.D. in a few days."

* * *

"I... I think I'm going to be sick." Mirio said as All-Might stood next to him, nodding his head. They'd been informed of the Bloody Mary sighting that was called in, shortly followed by a fire. They'd ran over, using One for All, and managed to put out the fires before the house was truly destroyed. Bloody Mary lay before them, her skin burnt and her dress ruined, but the mirrors in the room, the weapons, and the somewhat hard to recognize body shape left behind made it clear who it was.

"Whoever threw that mirror had something against Bloody Mary, pretended to be an ally then took her out once they were far enough that they could make a getaway before we found them," All-Might said before releasing his quirk, his body deflating. He reached over and patted Mirio's back "Although that begs the question of who had a reason to do something like this?"

Retribution stood outside of the building, keeping a watch from the outside with emergency services. "So, first we get a call from a condo on the beach, then we get a call from here within minutes of Bloody Mary's escape." He said as Coagulate walked up to him. She had her helmet off, revealing a pale complexion with white hair and pink eyes. "What do we have from the condo that called it in?"

"Short or Long?" She said as she brought up a tablet.

"Both."

"Two murders and a missing person, the condo was owned by a woman who was found dead, possibly within the last few hours, and the phone that called belongs to a dead for just under a day single father in a freezer." Coagulate said, Retribution turned to her. He waved his hand for her to continue as they walked to his motorcycle. They'd have to start searching the area to find who killed Bloody Mary soon. He wasn't sure if he'd congratulate them or take them out with a bit more force than necessary for taking down his target. Maybe he'd do both, both is good. "In the long version, yesterday a man was murdered and drained of his blood, he was then folded and shoved into his own freezer. The killer appeared to eat his ice cream for added salt to the stab wound, and left."

"Then she kills the condominium woman, hears the fight, calls it in on the guy's phone that she apparently stole of the body. She drinks the woman's blood as she watches the fight for all we can tell, then breaks off part of the bathroom mirror, tapes it to a frisbee, saves Bloody Mary who then used the chance to get to a secondary safehouse, and kills Bloody Mary." Coagulate said as she swiped through the information on her tablet. "She then calls in a Bloody Mary sighting and torches the corpse. The MO save for that last part and the short period of time between the two civilian deaths all matches a file of a school girl aged villain, Himiko Toga. Incidentally, that also matches the sort of person Bloody Mary is interested in keeping for herself according to Nezu's analysis"

"So, we're looking for the literally bloodthirsty maniac, she usually goes after two victims a week though..." Coagulate said as she took a helmet from Retribution, who pulled on his own once she'd taken it. They climbed onto the motorcycle and Retribution put the key in the ignition. "Thoughts?"

"We have a bloodthirsty schoolgirl who watches people for periods of time decide to up her kill rate after the clinic incident, her next kill puts her in viewing distance of Izuku and the next one takes out someone targeting Izuku." Retribution said as he turned on the motorcycle. "We knew Izuku was being targeted by Bloody Mary once Nezu contacted us, we failed to think about something else."

"What?"

"Who else would develop an interest in the little girl who got pulled out of that nightmare. Izuku was covered in more blood than anyone else, even more than the heroes who were supposed to fight." He said as he revved the engine and started to drive. He gave a moment for Coagulate to put the pieces together before continuing loudly to over talk the engine of his motorcycle. "A blood-soaked girl dragged out of literal hell, every news channel in Japan would have been reporting with zoomed in close-ups and plenty of hero leaks to get her name and spread it around... and people wonder why my generation had so many heroes going underground instead."

Hand of Harmony watched as the two sped off to do a perimeter sweep as he and a few officers made their way into the alleys. Other teams did the same throughout the investigation area, three blocks in every direction surrounding the building they'd found the burnt corpse. They'd find her and flush her out, then the perimeter teams would be able to do the takedown. A simple and straight forward plan that he rather liked, nothing too flashy just simple, straight forward tactics that gave him breathing room and a lack of media to complain about what happens.

He put a hand over his blind eye, ruined by a villain who would have done much worse if he hadn't been lucky enough for a little girl to warn him and when he finally catches the woman that orchestrated the entire attack she's whisked off by a serial killer before anyone can get any answers. He wanted to roundhouse the little hellion then thank her for making sure Bloody Mary died painfully. It might not be the most Heroic thought he's ever had but hell, after his past two days, he's allowed to be a little angry.

"Let's move people, quicker we find her the quicker we can hit the bar and forget the image of that bitch on the second floor." One officer said as Hand of Harmony pulled out his cell to call Gunhead with the latest information. He felt a bit amused at the officer's comment, knowing full well Retribution was probably going to cherish the memory of Bloody Mary's burnt corpse, he was spiteful like that.

* * *

Gunhead saw his office phone ring and picked it up. "Hand of Harmony, tell me you have good news."

"Fifty Fifty."

Gunhead sighed. "Hold on." He said, then held the phone away as he downed the rest of the beer in his can. He brought the phone back to his ear. "Alright, hit me."

"Are you sure you don't want to finish off another first?"

"Hell no, but I'll probably need to remember this when I tell Izuku's friends and family what's going on so, hit me," Gunhead said as he propped his feet up on the desk, Nezu laughing a bit at the comment, tea in one hand cigarette in the other.

"Bloody Mary is dead, and based on phone records from the police regarding the two calls that gave us Bloody Mary's position today, the locations they came from, and who owned the phone she was killed by Himiko Toga."

"The bloodthirsty psycho killer who selectively picked cannibals got murdered by the bloodthirsty serial killer who literally drains people of their blood?" Gunhead said, Nezu suddenly paying close attention to Gunhead as the man continued. "Why the hell was she even nearby?"

"Retribution and Coagulate were working on a theory as they drove off to do a perimeter sweep, I didn't hear all of it but with what I heard from them and drawing my own conclusions, Himiko probably wants Izuku for herself."

Gunhead palmed his face and groaned. "I just had to get the monitor case with the magnetic personality." He said before throwing his head back. "First it's that Katsuki kid, then the police officer in charge of investigating all the wrongdoing in her past, then All-Might, then the kids at the clinic, then Bloody Mary, and now this!?"

"Don't forget me, I can't wait to invite her to UA, she's going to make such a shockwave I'll finally have some real fun trying to predict what happens next," Nezu said, causing Gunhead to glare at him before thrusting a finger towards the two-foot-tall principal.

"Don't you start!"

"Maybe we should make a club, if so I motion we start making badges, she might come out of her hiding spot for one." Hand of Harmony said, making Gunhead bring his hand back to his face before sliding it up and rubbing his temples as Nezu burst into laughter, his animal ears letting him catch what Hand of Harmony had said. Gunhead took a breath to calm himself down before responding to Hand of Harmony.

"Find her, bring her in, we'll figure out what happens from there, keep in mind her profile was updated to reflect that she might have committed most of her crimes as a result of untreated Quirk Instability. Take her down fast, we don't want her escaping but we also don't want to hurt her too badly, if her instability gets proper treatment she might turn a new leaf."

"Understood."

"You know the chances of that actually happening are pretty low, given how long she's been at this?" Nezu said as Gunhead ended the call. He nodded as Gunhead put the phone down, frowning a bit. "Himiko Toga has dozens of murders attached to her... that we know of."

Gunhead stood up from his desk, put his mask back on, and moved to the office door. "I'm aware, however, this person also was purposely misdiagnosed, and her latest kill implies she can feel some sort of protectiveness... assuming it wasn't just lucky she was there and decided to corner Mary for herself." He said as he opened the door and gestured for Nezu to leave his office, the principal complied and they started walking through the hallways back to the saferooms. Nezu eventually tossed his cigarette butt into the empty can of tea he'd been drinking and tossed it into a small trashcan they passed. "Besides Izuku and her family are still in danger despite Bloody Mary being dead if Himiko is after her, I'd rather my staff feel better about bringing her in than worried about sending a little girl to death if she decides to play that card."

"That's a fair assessment, so, what now?" Nezu said as he jumped up onto Gunheads shoulder. The hero adjusted his stance a bit to better keep the principal from falling, it was an unspoken rule that Nezu could use other heroes as transport. He guessed it was just a result of him doing so at UA and the fact he was only two feet tall, shorter strides and all that.

"I need to let them know Bloody Mary is down but Izuku isn't safe thanks to a serial killer on her trail," Gunhead said as Nezu got comfortable on his shoulder. He wasn't sure what he was about to walk into, but he knew once he gave the news it was going to go downhill fast. He tilted his head to look at Nezu out of the corner of his eye. "Maybe you can give your news then if you think it'll make them happy, I get the feeling this news is going to make them real emotional."

He knocked on the door to the room he'd brought the two families to, opened the door, and walked in. Masaru had his face in his hands while Izuku was being fussed over by the other clinic victims, Momo, Hitoshi, Osore, and Tetsutetsu. Inko was rubbing her temples at the sight while Katsuki had one hand over his face. Gunhead saw Izuku looking confused at the sudden fussing and could smell blood. "Please tell me she didn't."

"She did."

"I asked you to say she didn't, did it nicely and everything," Gunhead said before clapping his hands together to get everyone's attention. Inko was the first to turn her head, followed by Izuku and Masaru. Then Momo, Hitoshi, Tetsutetsu, and Osore turned their heads as one to give him a mild glare, he ignored said glares. "Alright, so good news first, Bloody Mary has been found and will no longer be a threat to Izuku."

Before he could continue Izuku was suddenly bear hugged from behind by Tetsutetsu, who was cheering victoriously while Izuku squeezed her Gunhead plushie to her chest. The others made sounds of relief save for Katsuki, who narrowed his eyes. Gunhead waited for a moment and waited to see if Katsuki was going to call out the fact that he specified that Bloody Mary wasn't a threat to Izuku, not just that the threat was over. He gave no response but was clearly aware of the coming details. "However, we have reason to think Izuku is still in danger, in fact, she might be in more danger than before."

Before they could interrupt him again he kept going. "Bloody Mary was saved by an unknown party, who then used that to get Bloody Mary's trust, be brought to one of Mary's safehouses, and killed her." He said, watching Tetsutetsu's joyful hug turn protective. Momo and Osore looked at him in horror while Hitoshi looked at him in confusion. Katsuki, on the other hand, seemed to be trying to put pieces together to find out what was about to be said next, getting an approving look from Nezu. "We have people looking for the killer because we think the only reason she was actually there is that she had already been tailing Izuku."

"So what now, she just stays locked up here?" Katsuki said. That's when Nezu jumped down from Gunheads shoulder, getting everyone's attention to focus on him.

"That's where I come in, or would like to if young Izuku accepts my offer," Nezu said as he walked to the middle of the room. Gunhead shut the door and leaned against it, now was the moment of truth, what did Nezu want with his charge. Katsuki glared at the sentient animal before them, Katsuki knew it was Nezu, principal of UA, but he had a feeling whatever was about to come out of his mouth would end with him winning, regardless of Izuku's reaction. "You Izuku knowingly or not have caused quite a stir with your own death and now find yourself in the middle of two incidents in as many days."

"First we discover a doctor in charge of a quirk diagnosis program has been sending people off with false diagnoses, then there's the incident at the clinic, which catches an upcoming villains attention as well as a serial killer. Now we don't have to worry about how bad Bloody Mary would be if she got the chance to learn from her mistakes because the serial killer is so intent on having you to herself she interrupted an active Hero villain fight that All-Might himself was involved with, just to ensure Bloody Mary wasn't ever a possible threat again." Nezu said. At this point, everyone listening was pale, save Gunhead, he already knew this part. "We don't know what else this person will do, but she is already notorious for using stealth and quick kills to manage her spree without anyone getting any closer to finding her and investigating her targets thoroughly. She is a threat not only to you but to everyone in this room and their families, as she might go through them to get to you."

"That's why we've asked their parents, and will now be asking you, your mother, and your friends if they'd like to live within UA at the dormitories once they've been finished. As an added bonus each of you will have the option of taking a set of exams in the school to get into the Hero Course to start at the beginning of the new school year via recommendation."

Gunhead blinked behind his mask, he'd anticipated recommendations but not a direct invitation to live at the school. Hitoshi's eyes went wide with shock while Momo put her hands over her mouth. Osore was gobsmacked from the open mouth and sudden slouch in her posture, and Tetsutetsu dropped Izuku, who didn't seem to notice as she landed on her butt hard, just staring at Nezu. Katsuki too was surprised, his glare gone as he realized he was being invited to the school of his dreams.

"True, none of you received your medical recommendations, however, your actions at the clinic were proof of your abilities and your mindsets are useful for Hero work, and reports from eye-witnesses of the battle on Dagobah beach proved you Katsuki know when to go onto the attack and when to go on the defensive. Your instincts not only to get Izuku away from Bloody Mary but when it was time to go on the offensive and force her back." Nezu said, his paws gesturing to each of them as he spoke. "I see no reason to wait until the entrance exam to approve your applications, you've already proven yourselves in combat and tests can be given while you're in the dorms easily enough, UA has some of the best security in the country."

He turned and headed to the door while Gunhead moved away from it so he could pass. He jumped up slightly to turn the knob and open the door before turning back to them. "I will be downstairs in the main lobby, do let me know your decision so I can inform the school faculty."

Nezu left, and the door closed behind him, only to be opened again as the children went to go speak with their parents, leaving only Izuku and Katsuki's families in the room with Gunhead. "Kid, I'd accept the offer, Himiko Toga is dangerous and if she's after you, UA is your best bet. Not to mention getting in would put you in the best possible position to be a hero, regardless I'll support your decision." He said before walking out himself, Katsuki grinning at Izuku as she sat dumbfounded at what she was just asked. A chance to stay at UA, with her mother and her friends, and finish up the needed requirements for a recommendation.

She turned to her mother, who smiled at her as Katsuki walked over and lifted Izuku into the air with a bear hug from behind. "We're going to UA!"

* * *

 **End of Circus of Horrors Arc.**

* * *

 _ **Omake 3: Dadzu**_

"You're principal Nezu, the first animal to be discovered with a quirk, the Mutant Quirk High Specs, which makes you more intelligent than even the brightest recording humans in both history and present day!" Izuku said as she looked at him. "I've always wondered what you are, your ears relative to your size most resemble a bear, though your face, nose, and whiskers have more in common with mice, not rats, mice. Your front paws or hands are reminiscent of a cat and your size and tail are similar to many breeds of smaller dogs."

Nezu watched as Izuku went onto a tangent, blinking as her mind connected so many dots in regards to him that he hadn't really thought about.

"Mice are known to be excellent problem solvers and extremely clever, while dogs and cats both become highly affectionate in regards to those they bond with. Dogs are physically wired by breeding to become happy at the sound of a human voice or the smell of a human, while cats often see humans as entities to co-exist with setting social rules by habit or by treating you as a surrogate mother. Bears are often considered one of the smartest carnivores in existence, due to their capacity for problem-solving, ability to open and get into complex traps, and even learn how to make tools or knock objects over to safely move over rivers that would be dangerous for them to cross. To have a connection with all of these animals and a quirk for intelligence would make you capable of predicting the future by watching social trends or create domino effects by categorizing how each object or person would react to what kind of pressure, it's an honor to meet you, sir!"

"Dadzu."

"Huh?"

"Call me Dadzu, I'm adopting you."

"Eh!?"


	11. Whatever floats your bot

_Welcome to UA Arc, Part 1: Whatever floats your bot._

 **Warning: Graphic Scenes ahead**

* * *

"Hey UA Candidates thanks for tuning into me, your school DJ!"

Izuku's eyes sparkled as the lights in the exam orientation room began to flick on, starting from the outer columns and working their way inwards until every light in the room was on. It was still dim, save for a spotlight aimed directly at Present Mic, the teacher giving the orientation speech.

Said hero, with his long blond hair gelled back and up, in a high collared punk leather jacket, jeans, shades, and a specialized directional speaker around his neck stood at the podium with his arms spread out wide. "Come on and let me hear ya!"

She stood up and cheered, quickly finding she was the only one to do so.

 _"I... I'd like to take the entrance exam." Izuku said as Nezu led her and Inko to the dorm rooms. He looked up at her and blinked, Inko looking at her in surprise as well._  
 _"And why would you feel the desire to do that?" Nezu said as he turned back to the door to the first dorm room and unlocked it. He opened the door widely and the three of them walked in, the room wasn't the biggest by any means but it wasn't any smaller than Izuku's bedroom in the apartment. "Your friends have accepted the recommendation tests, and it would look good on your record."_

 _"I... they've all had their quirks for years, but I haven't had mine long. It doesn't feel fair to the other people trying to get in that someone else already had a spot reserved with a month old quirk. I should at least prove I'm just as capable as them rather than have someone just say I am." She said, looking at her feet. "UA normally only has thirty students per Hero course class, with myself, Katsuki, the others, and the boy that came to visit us when Endeavor came to apply him for a recommendation, that's nine slots..."_

 _"Well, it's your decision," Nezu said, feeling excited already, she'd already proven unpredictable in this decision, not to mention she had a point about the size of the hero courses and the large number of recommendation students. "Well, I recommend you work on your abilities while you're here to prepare, we're upping this year's difficulty."_

 _She'd trained hard, and living in the UA Dorms with her mother, Katsuki and his family, as well as the families of the other people who'd arrived at Gunhead's facility had given her the chance to meet other heroes and ask them for advice. She couldn't use the UA facilities but the dorm buildings were built tough, and they'd been able to create a workout area for themselves._

Present Mic gave her a thumbs up before going into the details of the exam. She leafed through her pamphlet, murmuring to herself while she listened to him. It helped her remember things when she repeated them back to herself and talking out loud would be disruptive, so she tried to keep her voice as low as she could.

"Excuse me sir but I have a question!" She stopped to look up from her papers, seeing a rather tall and broad built boy with blue hair standing up with his pamphlet in hand.

"Hit me!"

"On the print out you've listed four types of villains, not three. With all respect if this is an error on official UA materials, it is shameful. We are exemplary students-"

She tilted her head slightly and tuned him out for a moment, she didn't hear Present Mic call for questions so why was he interrupting for something like this? As far as she could tell it sounded like his usual radio show game method where a caller would call in, get a description of everything they could do right, everything they could do wrong, and then he'd throw in an additional rule to look out for. Was he calling out an error in the pamphlet before they'd finished hearing about it?

"-Additionally you with the unkempt hair bun!" The boy said, turning and pointing at her with an outstretched arm and glaring. She looked at the finger pointing at her and wondered if he was some kind of delinquent, didn't he know it's rude to point at people like that? "You've been muttering this entire time, stop that, if you can't seem to take this seriously leave-"

"Please stop pointing at me, it's very rude to point at people and Present Mic hasn't finished explaining everything." She said, her voice firmer than it would have been ten months ago. Her interruption got the blue-haired boy stop with a surprised look on his face as if he was confused by her words, so she clarified. "Present Mic was still going over the details but you interrupted him mid-explanation to complain that he hadn't mentioned the fourth villain type. That not an error, he just hasn't reached that detail yet, maybe something about the fourth villain is different and he didn't want what lump it with the basic targets as a result."

"Also it's considered very rude to point at people and my muttering was me going over the details as Present Mic went over them as a way of memorizing the information before us because I want to do everything I can to pass this test. If my muttering was a distraction then I would hope the people next to me would let me know, instead you, who is sitting two rows in front of me and two seats to my right heard my hushed voice over Present Mic's, of all heroes, interrupt the orientation just to call out on it. That sounds like you're looking for someone to shame for your own purposes, are you some kind of bully that enjoys embarrassing people in front of others. Furthermore, it's called spiky hair bun, you delinquent!"

The boy recoiled when she said delinquent, and people started laughing around two the of them, as well as one person lightly clapping. Realizing she'd gone from asking him to stop to outright chastising him, and sat back down using her pamphlet to hide her face.

"Okay everyone, calm down, please. The Little Listener is right though Examinee seven one one one, I was about to explain the fourth villain is different from the others in that it's not a target to stomp but an obstacle so I was saving it for last, but thanks for calling in anyway." Present Mic said as the silhouette came up for the Zero Pointer. "it's worth Zero points and is designed to be much, much more dangerous than it's counterparts, you'd have no reason to go after it but it'll appear to ruin your day if you're not prepared for it!"

"I-I see, my apologies."

"If I might ask Little Listener, how'd you know I was still going?"

Izuku peaked from over her pamphlet, not noticing the mass of people grabbing their chests as she did so. _'Cute!'_

"You hadn't asked for questions yet, it's the same way you do question games with callers on your radio show." She said as Present Mic dipped his sunglasses down, looking at her directly. "You get a caller, you explain the goal, something they're not allowed to do, and then add a twist at the end."

"Huh, not bad Little Listener, you caught on that quick?"

"I listen to your show a lot..."

Present Mic held his hands out to his sides. "Well, that's everything for today, now let's hear a Plus Ultra!"

"Plus Ultra~," Izuku said, though rather quiet and shy in comparison to her cheering from before now that she'd embarrassed herself.

"Good Luck, hope you practiced more than hitting just books!" Present Mic said, causing people to file out and follow the arrows on the hallways and floors to get to their battle stations.

Once Izuku got to the location she was assigned to she started to reread her pamphlet before pulling her arm from one strap of her backpack and letting the other strap slide to her elbow. She then unzipped the bag, pulled out a manila folder, put her pamphlet in the folder, and then slide the folder back in her backpack before handing it to a uniformed official to be kept safe.

After that she started to do stretches, making sure she was ready to move the moment the test started before seeing a girl who looked a bit unsure of herself. She had brown hair with, from the angle Izuku could see her at, long bangs and a bob cut in the back. She was tapping her chest as if trying to pump herself up, so Izuku decided to see if she could help her feel better and more confident about the exams.

"Hold it!"

She felt a hand on her left shoulder and immediately grabbed the arm attached to it, she turned so that the arm was up against her neck and other shoulder and curled her right leg before kicking back where she imagined the person's leg was. She felt her foot hit something then put it back on the ground before continuing her turn and pulling the arm over her left shoulder.

There was a sound of surprise, a meaty thump against the ground, and the boy who'd called her out and pointed at her in the auditorium was on his back, on the ground, her hands still holding his arm. She let him go and took a step back. "Why did you grab me like that, jerk!"

"Y-You were singling out that girl, she's obviously trying to calm and prepare herself for the exam, are you planning to disrupt to better your chances because if-"

"I wanted to go over and help cheer her up, what is your problem with me, why would think I'd do something like that if I'm here to be a hero!?" She said. "First the auditorium and now shouting and grabbing me from behind, are you trying to make me feel bad so I fail!?"

"Jeez is he still on her case?"

"Maybe she wasn't too far off the mark with her comments before..."

She glared and stomped off, great, now she was mad before an exam... She took a breath and turned her head towards the gate to the exam area. The gates burst open and she started to lean forward, prepping herself to run.

"Go!" Present Mic said. She heard a bit of confusion from the people around her as she ran forward to start looking for villain bots.

The first thing she found was a one-pointer, which ran around on a single wheel, balanced on which was two arms with large metal plates and a long head with a single red light for an eye. She grabbed the arm of and tore it off before slamming said arm into the side of its head. One point, she noted to herself as she grabbed the armor plate on the arm of the machine and ripped it off from the rest of the arm, giving herself a large piece of flat metal. As she grabbed onto one of the cords on it and slung it over her back she moved on, the other examinees starting to catch up to her.

She looked around and saw no-one was going into any of the buildings, so she brought her left hand to her mouth and bit off her index, middle, ring, and pinky fingers before spitting them into her right and throwing them to a third story window. Muscle strings formed before they made it to the window, already racing towards her fingers and connecting only just as the fingers reached the windowsill. She felt them reconnect and hooked them, gripping the windowsill, the muscle fibers pulled and she was pulled rapidly to the window.

Just as she expected she found a group of villain bots, two one pointers, five two pointers, and a three-pointer. Her fingers were pulled back onto her hand and she grabbed the metal plate she'd ripped from the first one pointer. She jumped out of the windowsill and into the building, using the metal plate as a shield to take the first set of attacks from the villain bots before throwing the plate like a massive frisbee at the three-pointer.

The three-pointer was a large tank-like machine that's front was a large head similar to the one pointer with two heavily armored arms with two fingers to drag itself forward. It's back half was even more armored, with tank treads for legs and two five count rocket blocks mounted to it. The metal plate she threw drove into one of the missile blocks, causing all five to explode inside the robot as she leaped towards the first two-pointer.

The two pointer was taller than the three-pointer, but its body was sleek, like a large metal horse but with a longer neck, thinner body, and a gun as big as her attached to the tail. She slid down the creatures neck and jumped off it's back, latching onto its tail. Izuku grabbed the gun on the tail and pulled, ripping it off before throwing it at the two pointers head just as the rest of the machines began to right themselves from the initial explosion.

As the two-pointer went limp and fell to the ground she turned to land on her feet, still holding onto the two pointers tail. She twisted and swung the destroyed robot at the other ones, the two one-pointers being swept from the floor and through the walls while the two pointers were knocked to the ground. Izuku let go of the broken two-pointer and ran to the three-pointer, pulling a metal plate from one of the hands of the machine and then moving to the second missile block, pulling it from the creature as well before kicking it to the still active and trying to stand two pointers.

She ran to the nearest window with the plate, jumped out, and threw the plate at the missile block. Another explosion and she prepared to curl, the moment she hit the ground she used the momentum to roll rather than let her bones break. Sixteen points, it felt like a good start. She exited the roll with a jump, getting back onto her feet and running to a three-pointer that was moving rapidly at a fellow examinee as she slapped a one-pointer and then pushed it up into the air.

"Watch your back!" Izuku said as she jumped onto the back of the three-pointer, the examinee turning and suddenly noticing the large machine racing towards her. Izuku took a moment to recognize her brown hair and realize it was the girl she'd wanted to boost the confidence of before, better to help someone a bit late than never she guessed.

The girl dove to the side while Izuku climbed onto the neck of the machine, grabbing its head and pulling up. There was a screech of metal as it slowly tore off, and she jumped off in time for the headless robot to bury itself into a wall. "Nineteen," Izuku said as she dusted herself off. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks!" The girl said, then tented her fingers. When she did the one pointer she'd slapped and pushed dropped down the ground, smashing against the pavement. Izuku grinned and then went back to the three-pointer. "Got to keep moving!"

"Stay safe!" Izuku said before heading in the opposite direction, jumping back onto the three-pointers back and ripping off one of the missile blocks to take with her. The large amount of explosives on her shoulder, held up by her arm, proved to be of immediate use as a large group of four three-pointers, five two pointers, and twelve one pointers converged in the intersection in front of her.

Putting her free hand to her mouth she called out. "Over here!" She said, then put both hands on the missile block she'd grabbed, spun, and released it at the machines. The two pointers aimed their tails at the incoming missile block and shot at it, the rubber bullets slamming into the block as it smashed into one of the three-pointers. Izuku ducked and curled her hands over her head as it exploded, causing the two blocks on the three-pointer to explode as well, leading to a chain explosion as the debris set off the other three-pointers.

She opened her eyes and looked at the intersection, a one-pointer tried to pick itself back up before falling flat on the ground. she tallied up the points in her head. "Okay... twelve... twenty-two... thirty-two, fifty-one with my nineteen before, I guess my training must have paid off."

Izuku turned to look for more points when the ground started to shake directly beneath her before something burst out of the ground between her. She squealed as she realized she was on top of the Zero Pointers head, and it was taking her well above the simulation city. Soon however it stopped, though she didn't, continuing to fly into the air until gravity started to pull her back down to earth. "Oh, this is going to huuuurt!" Izuku said as she plummeted to the ground rapidly, her hair bun coming undone and letting her hair loose.

Ochaco groaned as she tried to pick herself off from the pavement, a sharp pain running up her leg that forced her to stop. She turned to see some of the rubble had landed over her leg, then she heard a scream and looked up. Falling down to her rapidly was the girl who'd helped her before when she hadn't seen a three-pointer rushing her from behind. Ochaco's eyes widened and she tried to pull her leg from underneath the rubble as the screaming got louder.

"-to huuuurt!"

There was a loud meaty crash and she felt blood hit her face. Ochaco slowly turned her head back to where the girl would have landed and immediately regretted it. On the pavement was the green haired girl, her body twisted and half crushed, broken bones jutting from the girls ruined flesh in the middle of a growing puddle of blood. Combined with her already building nausea Ochaco threw up, her half-digested breakfast along with stomach acid spilling onto the pavement between them as she choked back sobs.

Did that really just happen, did she really just see that, in the middle of the entrance exam!? Didn't they have heroes watching out to make sure stuff like this doesn't happen!? Ochaco wiped her mouth and then froze when the ground shook, looking behind her to see the huge zero-pointer moved towards them. She had to move, get what she could of the nice girl to the heroes to demand why they didn't save her.

As she focuses on trying to reach the rubble pinning her down she didn't see as the girl's body started to pull itself into place as wounds were pulled together and sealed up. An eye was pulled from where it had bounced across the pavement and to a nearby sidewalk and back into her skull, tears soaking the socket as the eye spun in them to clean it off.

The angle of her body, where the rubble pinned her leg, and her physical and mental exhaustion from doing the test and watching a poor girl fall to her death had made it difficult to reach the rubble and activate her quirk. As the rubble floated away Ochaco's eyes went wide, the zero pointers foot was falling straight towards her. Tears flowed from her eyes and she closed them. _'I'm sorry Mom, Dad... I couldn't do it.'_

Ochaco waited for the pain of being crushed before she died, but it didn't come. She risked opening her eyes only to see the girl who'd fallen to her death just moments ago standing over her, both hands holding up the machines foot from hitting the ground.

"Move, I can already feel my bones cracking, they're going to break!" The girl said and Ochaco nodded, scrambling to get out from underneath the machines foot and tapping the front of the foot with her hand as she cleared from underneath it. Ochaco felt the nausea of effecting something so large with her quirk and spun to see if the girl would escape. Instead, she watched as the girl screamed and shoved back against the now weightless foot as the machine kept trying to push it's foot down. She couldn't affect the whole machine like she had with the smaller ones.

"Keep going, it's not going to stop until time runs out!" The girl said, sounding like she was screaming with everything she had. Ochaco looked between her and the exit everyone was scrambling to, and saw the blue-haired boy with engines in the back of his calves. She ran up to the boy who thankfully wasn't using his quirk.

"Two minutes remaining!" Present Mic said from wherever he was, why hadn't anyone saved the other girl yet!? She reached the boy and grabbed his wrist, pulling so he'd turn to her. When he did she pointed at the green haired girl under the foot of the zero pointer

"H-Hey, please, she stopped it to save me and now she's going to be crushed, she needs help!"

"Are you implying UA wouldn't have failsafe's to make sure the examinees don't d-"

"Please, you need to save her, I saw your quirk you have to be fast enough, Please!"

Izuku had to admit, she'd recovered from a lot of things in her training, and falling from the top of the zero-pointer had been painful before her body shut down her consciousness to recover. But she wasn't sure she'd get up from something like this, she'd never been smashed into a paste before. Crushed, sure, that one time she was ripped in half and a few times after because of some bad practices with the weights she trained herself with.

Never something like this.

Still, the Zero pointer should turn off and head back to it's hiding spot when the exam ended right? She'd heard Present Mic call out two minutes earlier, how long ago had that been, she couldn't tell. The bones in her arms were cracking, her quirk reinforcing them to hold them together but it couldn't fix the damage while the damage was still happening. She could feel the cracks growing, soon one of them would be clean through the bone and it'd break, then as her muscles when to realign it the other cracks would start to complete.

She wasn't getting out from under this foot cleanly, it had gotten a bit easier when the girl tapped it but the robot was still stronger than she was and was forcing the rest of its weight on her. She grit her teeth and pushed against it harder, maybe if she could put it a bit off balance, or put it high enough for her to have enough time to get most of her body out from underneath it before it hit the ground.

 _Crack!_

Izuku's right fibula snapped under the weight of the machine pressing it's foot down on her dropping her to her right knee. No escaping it then, she just needed to hold it without being smashed until the exam ended. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep it from crushing her.

"Help her, she's going to die!"

"UA wouldn't-"

 _Snap!_

She squeaked as her right ulna snapped, the machines foot dropping down to the back of her head and shoulders as she tried to keep it from smashing her against the pavement. She could feel as her spinal column, the back of her ribcage, her collarbones, and her shoulders strained from the weight now directly on them. She squeezed her eyes shut and started counting her breathes, hoping the exam would end soon.

"Why won't anyone _Help her!_ "

"Miss, wait, you can't go ba-"

"I have to try, she saved me!"

She could hear footsteps rushing to her.

"Just keep trying, I'll try to reduce the weight!"

It was the girl she'd stopped from being crushed that had been screaming at someone to help her.

"Please, don't die!"

Breathe in, Breathe out. The weight on her back was decreasing but it was still pressing down on her.

"Don't throw up, you have to help her!" The girl said, the weight slowly going down.

Breathe in, Breathe out.

"Hrck, not, now... have to, help her!" The pressure was still too much, even as it slowly eased

Breathe in, Bre-

 _Crack!_

She felt her T4 and T5 vertebrae crack and dislocate from each other, her lower body and legs lost all feeling and her body folded forward, her face heading straight for the pavement. Izuku waited for her body to be smashed only to get nothing more than a broken nose, blood pooling around her face as the weight on her became less and less.

"Time's Up!"

She heard the girl trying to choke back her nausea as the weight on her decreased, then started to pull away from her. Her body fell to the side as her bones were realigned and pinned back together inside her. Once she felt she stand up she slowly stood up, testing her limbs and checking her body for new stitches. While most of the stitches from the clinic incident had disappeared the one around her hips, where she'd been torn in half, had not. She noticed a number of new sets and wondered which one would stay, as she was sure that fall had been just as lethal as her first one. Then she started floating, she blinked a couple times then looked around to find the girl she saved was holding her wrist and pulling her down to the ground. "What are you-"

"Please don't move you were seriously hurt, I'm not even sure how you didn't die from that fall, and then you started getting crushed!"

"I'm okay, what about you, is your leg okay?" Izuku said, not sure why the girl was crying and holding her down. "Oh, I'm Izuku Midoriya by the way, what's your name?"

"O-Ochaco Uraraka, please don't die, _where are the medical staff, she was nearly crushed!_ " Ochaco said hysterically as the other examinees just stood there watching. Izuku gasped as she realized why Ochaco was so worried. She wasn't aware of her quirk, she really needed to keep that in mind when she did stuff like this. A demonstration is apparently in order. Plan in mind Izuku brought her right thumb to her mouth. "Eh, what are you do-"

Izuku bit off her thumb and spat it into the air, strings of muscle moving from her hand to catch her thumb and pull it back to her hand. "I'm okay, I'm a zombie!"

Ochaco's face relaxed as her eyes rolled up and she passed out, falling forward onto Izuku.

Tenya looked at the two girls in shock, he'd been preparing to help them once he realized the machine wasn't stopping. It was just a test, she could have died, why did UA have such a dangerous test? Yes, he knew in the real world a villain wouldn't have stopped and he would have jumped to save her then but this was a test, surely there must have been some safeties?

Unless they _wanted_ it to be dangerous, to prepare them for the real dangers of heroics, and find the people who are willing to save others.

He clenched his fist and looked down, how didn't he see this? He was the younger brother of the hero Ingenium and came from a long line of heroes, how didn't he notice this?

 _"-_ _why would think I'd do something like that if I'm here to be a hero!?"_

His eyes widened as the line ran through his head, why had he assumed that of her, why had he assumed she would be safe just on the basis that it was UA? It was a machine, machines are programmed to work a certain way and if she wasn't enough of an obstacle than it wouldn't know to stop putting it's foot down, it might not even be able to notice a problem and keep trying because it knows it's not level. The other girl had been hysterical, she was aware of the danger and was begging for help.

Why didn't he help!?

His jaw clenched as he tried to demand an answer from himself, only to be unable to find one save for that it was a test to defeat faux villains so he'd focused on that. He didn't like that answer, it wasn't a good answer, it wasn't a Heroic answer.

"Here, take some gummies, is anyone hurt?"

He turned and saw an old nurse handing out gummies and kissing wounds, causing them to heal rapidly. He ran over to her. "Ma'am, someone was caught underneath the foot of the Zero Pointer, they might have-"

"They were what!?" The old nurse said, nearly screaming at the end as she turned and looked past him at the two girls. She then started to rush over to them while Tenya followed her. He needed to apologize to both of them, it might not be enough but he had to start somewhere to make up for his actions. How could he forget to be a hero during a Hero Exam?

* * *

Nezu put his cup of tea, which he had carefully blended to not have much caffeine, back on the small tea plate. "Can someone tell me why that zero-pointer didn't stop to go around a trapped student, or stop upon realizing there was a child under its foot, or move to a different entry point when there was someone Standing on it's primary 'spawn' point?" He said as he put his tea plate onto the small table in front of him, a dark and violent aura emanating from his small animal body. Shota wasn't sure what to make of it, granted he was rather angry as well about the situation but Nezu seemed angry for the girl's sake rather than the implications of faulty programming in the zero pointers. Nezu must have taken a liking to the girl during the time they'd hosted her and her mother.

He guessed it was likely the tea, Nezu was fond of it and the girl's mother was very good at making it from what he'd heard. He hadn't really bothered with the live-in families that were all coming in on recommendation chances. If they survived the first day he'd give a damn. He brought a juice pouch with a straw stuck into it up to his lips and took a drink. Still, that she hadn't died was something in and of itself, and she got back up after what he was certain had been a lethal drop for her, he'd seen the blood. He might actually want her in his class if it wasn't for the fact Nezu liked her, Nezu tended to like troublesome things.

"I'll find out," Higari said, sounding rather angry as well. For a moment Shota wondered which contributed to the man's anger more, the fact someone nearly died or soreness that at least one of his machines apparently had faulty coding. Nemuri and a few of the other heroes were already on their way to verify everything was alright, now it was time to start granting rescue points. He watched as Nezu took another sip of tea and pulled up the first examinee they were going to look at as a file lit up in front of them. "Tenya Iida managed to get the highest score for villain points at fifty-two, and his actions throughout the test prior to the larger villain coming out did prevent unnecessary injury to other students. However given his actions at the end, it does beg the question if we should grant him rescue points, it's possible he didn't intend to save those students. Discuss."

"I'd say give him the points he earned, true he didn't move to save Midoriya despite another student pleading however his reasoning is logical. The robot _shouldn't_ have been an actual risk, most of its attack protocols are removed and it trampling Midoriya and nearly trampling Uraraka is well outside of the norm. Keep in mind even we weren't aware she was in real danger until it broke her leg." Higari said as he brought up the specs of the zero-pointer on his tablet, already searching through the data for the flaw. "Aizawa?"

"I don't really care what you all decide, you already know my opinion on this exam... That said from what we've seen of Tenya Iida's quirk during the exam, his body type, and considering the flaw in the design him attempting to save her by running in and back out with Izuku Midoriya would have been more dangerous than waiting for someone else to save her. He's fast but he's also much taller than Midoriya, he wouldn't have the clearance he'd need to get her and get out as he'd already be hunched over just to reach her." Shota said as he put down his juice pouch. "At the same time, with Uraraka's actions, he could have attempted to help by moving to them and assisting in holding up the foot from outside to help alleviate the pressure. He needs to work on his ability to think of multiple plans, and his standing by the idea that everything was safe so helping others came secondary to proving himself is a problem and rather than come up with a possible plan to delay a villain while better help arrives he stood back. He might potential though, he realized his mistake in the end and turned Recovery Girls attention onto them."

The other heroes, including Toshinori, had similar opinions, so Nezu took a count and awarded the boy nine rescue points for his covering other examinees backs. "Next we have Izuku Midoriya at fifty-one points, She managed to cover Uraraka's back and saved her some pain, followed by saving her a second time from the Zero Pointer trampling her, being crushed and nearly being smashed as a result. At the same time with her quirk, the risk of doing so is possibly negligent, if not outright zero, thanks to her quirks reanimation abilities. What should we award her?" Nezu said as Izuku Midoriya's file replaced Tenya Iida's on their screens. Shota and the other teachers had already been briefed on the girl's quirk, she and the other victims of Bloody Mary have been living on campus as part of the dorm system to see if it would work as well as keep them safe after all. He wasn't sure what to make of her quirk, it was mutant so he was able to use his quirk around her without fear of shutting it down and permanently killing her.

"Whether it was a risk to her or not she still jumped in to save her fellow examinee without so much as a moment's hesitation, there was no thought involved, she saw a situation and saved a student. We also don't know if there's a limit to what she can take, and neither does she. Considering her muscles are what stitches her back together and they've always been at least partially intact after a fight, it's possible the weight of the Zero Pointer could smash her beyond recovery so there's at least some risk." Toshinori said, pointing at the screen as it showed a camera view of Izuku getting up and running under the foot of the machine. "This is also immediately after she recovered from a pretty damaging fall, she's always eaten more after her quirk is used compared to when she doesn't, it's possible she can run out of materials for her body to use and starve to a final death from too many deaths in succession."

"Toshinori has a point, we can't declare this to be without risk and saving students from the Zero pointer by stopping it usually ends in sixty rescue points to the rescuer, maybe reduce it to forty-five due to reduced risk?" Sekijiro said, getting a nod from Snipe. Shota thought about it for a second, along with the three points from saving Uraraka earlier Izuku would be at ninety-nine points. She'd easily have the number one spot in the exam scores as a result even with the reduction, and the highest since All-Might himself. "Seems fair to me."

"I agree, it's true she knows she can take a lot of damage but she's also unaware if she can recover from damage that severe, which means as far as she believed she was possibly risking her life and decided it would still be a fair trade," Shota said, and Nezu nodded, adding the points to her score.

"That settles it then, forty-five for the zero-pointer save and then three more for the three-pointer save. Next let's look at Ochaco Uraraka, she might not be the next highest in villain scores but I want to go over hers next. Throughout the exam she used her quirk in small ways that kept numerous fellow examinees safe, earning fifteen points in rescue before she had to be saved from the Zero pointer." Nezu said, then brought up her file for everyone to look at. "Following that however, she one-upped everyone by running back to the danger she very well knew came close to killing her to save her savior when no-one else would. Given the nature of this rescue, the fact that she fought through a noted weakness to her quirk, and the very real danger the zero-pointer had become sixty seems a bit short. At the same time, she didn't actually Save Midoriya, given at the last second of the exam she was about to be completely crushed."

"I have to disagree, it might not have been a direct save but without Uraraka jumping in to reduce the amount of weight being pressed down on Midoriya she would have been crushed before the timer ran out and the machine was set to reverse its course. It might have only been buying time but without it, there's a chance we'd be having to tell people 'oh yes, that undying girl we brought in to protect from villains trying to use her, we managed to find a way to kill her'. I imagine it would go over poorly." Seijiro said, getting nods from Toshinori and Shota. He might not be big on how the media saw him but even he'd avoid that sort of press. "I say give her a good seventy points, she was aware of a death level risk and did something hazardous to her health to save another without having the possibility of a reset if she got hurt or worse."

Nezu seemed to cackle with laughter as he added the points on, and moved to the next student. Shota sighed internally, somehow he knew they were all going to end up in his class. He just hoped the rest of the students were quiet and didn't have some flashy as hell quirk, like that Katsuki kid they'd been told about. "Next is Yosetsu, who managed fifty villain points, a few times he was able to weld machines to the ground with his quirk before they could run down other students, rescue or just attempts at more points?"

* * *

Izuku carried Ochaco as instructed by Recovery Girl, moving her to a small medical area that was set up outside of the simulation city. Beside her was Tenya Iida, who had apologized for his actions before and during the test. Now that things had calmed down he seemed less of an intense and abrasive jerk and more of a very stiff stickler for rules, someone who wasn't used to change or disorder. He'd explained he was from Soumei academy which Izuku guessed was the reason for his abrasive behavior, going from a private school where they taught as much discipline as schoolwork to a public school that did the bare minimum to teach etiquette would be difficult to cope with.

Didn't explain why he pointed at her though.

"I promise to be a better companion from now on!" Tenya said as Izuku laid Ochaco on one of the hospital beds and then propped her feet up with a pillow. "Shouldn't that go under her head?"

Izuku shook her head. "No, you want to make blood flow up the body when someone faints... companion?" She said, turning to look at Tenya who was taking notes of what she just said. Even if he had been sorry about what he'd said before why would he want to accompany her anywhere, they didn't exactly hit it off well.

"Yes, I must admit that the two of you showed more heroic qualities than I during the test, and as I said before looking back on my behavior I realized that I've been acting poorly. My actions have been deplorable, but despite this, you still took the time to remind me of my errors and even saved a life at possible risk not only to your future as a student but your very life!" Tenya said, his voice loud and clear as he held his notepad over his heart. His glasses reflected the sunlight, making them look bright and leaving her unable to see his eyes. "As such, I would like to work with you during our time at UA, should we both be accepted, that we might learn from each other and become better heroes together! You have a natural affinity for heroism while I have been carefully taught and prepared for the task, together we could become worthy of the title, Hero!"

"... So, you want to be friends?"

Tenya blinked and looked down, his face showing a somewhat caught off guard expression and his glasses no longer reflecting the suns glare to hide his eyes. "I... yes, I believe is also a good way to put it."

Izuku smiled up at Tenya, he was a bit awkward, probably as much as she was due to his schooling and fixation on the rules, but that was hardly a problem. "That sounds good to me, my other friends should be arriving soon if you want to meet them!" She said, her eyes twinkling with joy, she was pretty sure she got a good score on the test and now she had a new friend, maybe even two once Ochaco regained consciousness. Today was going pretty well for her, maybe she should call her mother and see if she was planning katsudon. "I think you and Momo would get along well, she likes helping people. Oh, sorry, you said your name when you apologized but I forgot to give mine, I'm Izuku Midoriya!"

"Wait, you're Izuku?" Tenya said, recognizing the name from ten months ago, it had been all over the news for weeks and his brother had spent months assisting in the search for Himiko Toga prior to the threat level of the investigation dropping once UA officially took her and the other clinic victims in. Despite that horror, being chased by a serial killer, she was still happy and smiling, even willing to trust him enough call him a friend after how he'd acted when they met, how he hadn't acted when she was in danger. He turned away from her and clenched a fist over his chest, his eyes squeezed shut in an attempt to stem the tears flowing down his face and his lips thinned. _'She really is a model of what heroes should aspire to, so open, trusting, and bright even after such dark times tried to wash over her and steal away her flame!'_

Izuku tilted her head as she stared at Tenya's back, wondering why he'd turned around so suddenly while Recovery Girl patted her shoulder. _'This girl is going to cause so much chaos without even intending to, isn't she?'_ Chiyo thought as Tenya turned back to Izuku and suddenly bowed forward until his head was level with the girl's waist. His hand was out as if asking for a handshake as he bowed, and Chiyo noticed a few drops of water hit the ground under his face. _'It's going to be just like when All-Might and Endeavor were in school, only rather than girls it's going to be boys, isn't it?'_

"Ugh, my head hurts..." Ochaco said as she tried to sit up, only for Izuku to turn around and put a hand on her chest. She attempted to push her down gently but with Izuku's strength, Ochaco found herself being pushed into the bed hard enough for the bed to make a creaking noise.

"Please don't sit up yet, you fainted and could be more hurt than you realized!" Izuku said as Recovery Girl looked over Ochaco, then pulled her hand off of Ochaco's chest. Ochaco looked at the hand that Izuku had used to keep her down and saw stitches on her finger, her eyes widened and she looked into Izuku's eyes.

"So, that was, really real, you bit off your thumb?"

"You what!?"

"What's he doing here!?"

Izuku blinked as Tenya suddenly had her wrist in his hand, looking over her thumb while Ochaco was now sitting up and gestured at Tenya with both arms. "He let Recovery Girl know what happened and helped get you here, and yes, I did, it doesn't hurt you know. My quirk Patchwork Zombie puts me back together when I get hurt." She said, getting Tenya and Ochaco to look at her again, their eyes wide. Ochaco's shined with understanding as she realized how Izuku had gotten back up after being... splattered, across the ground, as well as how she stood back up after nearly being crushed by the zero-pointer. Tenya's eyes however filled with horror as realized the stitches on her fingers and limbs were points where she'd been cut and pierced by either the faux villains or her own broken bones.

He lifted his chin up a bit as he felt his heart clench again, squeezing his eyes shut once more before bowing to the two girls as low as he could.

"Thank you for accepting me as your friend, I won't let you two down again!"

"Won't let who- Damn it Izuku who the hell are these strays!?"

Tenya straightened up and turned to see who it was that had called him and Ochaco strays while Izuku beamed and turned to see Katsuki in a red tank top and loose camo cargo shorts. Behind him was Hitoshi, Tetsutetsu, and Momo. Momo immediately went over to Izuku and pulled her into a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay, we passed by a bunch of heroes screaming to call off the zero pointers due to a dangerous glitch!" Momo said as Hitoshi brought his right hand up to his forehead and shook his head in it.

"Would you stop calling everyone Izuku meets strays?" Hitoshi said as he walked over to Tenya and held out a hand for a handshake. Tenya took it and shook Hitoshi's hand stiffly before Hitoshi pulled his hand back and offered it to Ochaco, who was more delicate about the greeting. "I'm Hitoshi Shinso, the blond attack dog is Katsuki Bakugou, and the girl going full big sister on Izuku is Momo Yaoyarozu. There's also Tetsutetsu and Osore but they got caught up with some guy that has a similar quirk to Tetsutetsu's. He felt the need to challenge him so Osore is acting as the judge."

Katsuki scoffed and walked over to Izuku before pulling her into a headlock and giving her a noogie. "I swear to god you attract new extras every time I take my eyes off you!" He said as Izuku struggled in his grip, whining and kicking her legs. "Do I need to keep you locked up in a box and only let you out during class?!"

Izuku stopped struggling and excited at the idea. "Can it be a coffin?"

"We're not actually going to put you in a bo-Momo stop!" Hitoshi said, turning as he heard Momo's quirk activate, the girl had already rolled up her shirt to reveal her stomach.

"But she wants a coffin... maybe a black dress with a design that looks like red stitches are holding it together too, it would make a good hero costume..."

Ochaco and Tenya looked on as Hitoshi tried to get Momo to stop making a coffin and burial garment for Izuku, who Katsuki released his headlock on. Ochaco smiled nervously as Tenya straightened his glasses. "At least they're all really lively?" Ochaco said, Tenya nodding slowly in agreement to her understatement.

"Oi, if you two are going to start hanging out around Izuku we need to get you two on a workout regiment, I'm not letting slackers hold her back from being a top hero like the rest of us!" Katsuki said as he locked onto the two. "We're heading to the dorms once Tetsutetsu and Osore arrive, you two are joining us got it, we've got training equipment!"

Tenya gaped at Katsuki's demand, as well as the declaration that he might be a slacker, while Ochaco nodded. If she had been stronger maybe Izuku wouldn't have had to nearly get crushed to save her. "Right!"

"We're also going to have to show you went to notice certain weirdos, Izuku's too trusting for her own good," Katsuki said, causing Izuku to slouch and pout angrily at the blond boy.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That you're a fucking magnet for weirdos and strays!"

* * *

Tomura brought his hands up to his own neck, scratching at the flesh that was already scarred from previous scratching fits as he eyed a small handheld game system. It had a few game cartridges as well, a few new ones no less. Sensei had told him to make sure there was plenty of cannon fodder villains working with the League for when he attacked All-Might, trash to keep guard while the Nomu broke everyone's stupid 'Symbol of Peace'. So he'd formed a guild and like any stable, big time guild in the world, to get in you needed to bring something to it.

The League needed money, because the underworld brokers demanded money, so he charged a grand to get in the league, and follow up payments to say in. This kept them committing crimes to keep things noisy so he could gather information on All-Might without the local authorities coming after him and acted as something of a sifting process. The weakest would get caught, and the decent ones would either knew their place in the world or were strong enough to question it, sorted out the civilian NPCs from the companion NPCs.

So when a blonde haired girl in a cardigan and a school uniform came into the league's hideout, somewhere he'd never shown to the pawns he hired the league, with a bloody knife in one hand and a game store bag in the other, on the same day All-Might had announced his new teaching position at UA High, he was a bit peeved and ready to strangle her as she decayed into dust. When she put the bag on the counter and slid it over to him like Kurogiri does with Girans drinks and it spilled out the newest handheld game, an RPG he'd had his eyes on stealing for himself, and a few other titles, however... he was still peeved. So he decided to hold back, curious enough as to how the hell she knew what he already eying for himself.

To keep himself from attack her, he scratched at his neck, kept his hands busy so he didn't accidentally use his quirk on her or the very nice new games he was going to enjoy later. "What do you want?"

"You're the person in charge of the League of Villains right? You're the one they say is going to take down All-Might with his pet monster?"

She sounded childish, immature, like those All-Might fans that gush about him on the street and make him so mad he drags them into alleyways and shut up and disappear into flakes of rotten flesh. He didn't like her, she was even making that stupid gushing pose, swaying side to side with both of her hands up under her chin, curled up into fists. "I heard he's in U.A., I wanna join your League of Villains and go to U.A. for my beautiful Izuku, I want to hug her and hold her and _cut_ her and _be_ her!" She said before licking the blood off of the knife in her hand. Tomura's eyes widened as gray fluid enveloped the girl and then started to change, turning into one of the pawns he'd hired but with the cardigan and schoolgirl outfit she had been wearing before. "I could even bring her here to play with your monster and we'll all be besties!"

It was weird, hearing that particular pawn say that, as she'd been adamant that they weren't friends and she was using the league for her own gain. He'd been tempted to kill her then but he realized that none of the idiots they were bringing along would actually make it out even if they killed All-Might, Kurogiri's quirk worked best with small groups when it came to the long distance warp that would get them out once the job was done.

"Tomura Shigaraki, if I may, I believe she's talking about Izuku Midoriya, the girl who was targeted by Bloody Mary ten months ago," Kurogiri said, with the girl nodded in his pawns body. "UA took her in after the events to protect her, they received a great deal of praise... if she was to be stolen away as we killed All-Might, we wouldn't just crush the Symbol of Peace, but also the school itself as people question how safe it really is."

"A bonus objective... yeah..." Tomura said as he thought about it, lots of quests had optional objectives that offered additional rewards. Kidnapping a student UA was openly protecting while killing All-Might, let them promise to get her back before twisting her into a subordinate with Sensei's help... he had to keep from salivating so he didn't get spit on Father. It was the perfect quest, destroy the final boss and ruin the forces that created him, that's how it works after all. You can't just kill the boss you had to keep another one from rising.

Quest: Destroy the Symbol of Peace

Objective: Kill All-Might  
Bonus Objective: Kidnap Izuku Midoriya

Rewards: Shattering of Hero Society  
Bonus Reward: A new plaything to break as society turns on UA, preventing another Symbol of Peace.

He felt like he could just reach out and touch the quest notice, press the accept button. He knew he was just imagining it but at the same time, it was so perfect. "Alright, you're in, what's your name?"

"Himiko Toga, it's going to be so much fun working with you!" She said, he started to laugh, and she laughed with him. Maybe he'd been too quick to judge her, maybe she was just the sort of party member he needed to pull this off. Kurogiri looked at the screen Sensei usually spoke through, there was no change, so he let the two be. Perhaps Tomura would be less irritable with her around, or at least with the new gaming system she brought him.

Himiko let them think she was laughing with him, it had been incredibly easy to get into their hideout and the woman they'd hired was so annoying she couldn't wait for her to disappear from her forever. As if she'd share Izuku with them, as if she'd let them _hurt_ Izuku, she'd join in on their little excursion, they'd make their declaration and then they'd die and she'd drag their corpses to Izuku in bright green wrapping paper tied up with red ribbons that flowed like blood and they'd be friends and they'd be one and they'd be together as one forever.

She held herself back from escalating her laughter at the sheer thought of becoming Izuku, of standing over her as her green hair turned dark and slick with blood as she lapped up the crimson liquid spilling from her lips and cheeks and neck and body. Himiko let the girl she was wearing fall from her body in globs of gray goo, Izuku had been through so much, she knew she'd stay when others stopped working and disappeared forever, they'd always be one, forever and ever. She wondered what kind of knife Izuku liked, pocket knives, box cutters, chef knives, daggers? Probably not daggers, those might bring back memories... or maybe they'd remind her of how she saved her from Bloody Mary and be perfect.

She couldn't wait to meet her, cut her, _be her_ , as Tomura's laugh died down she forced back her own laughter to keep in character. This would be the hardest thing she's done, hiding with people as her original self without showing what she really wanted from them, but she would do it, she would be what they thought Himiko Toga was, she'd do it for Izuku, for her Izuku. She bit her lower lip and squirmed a bit as Kurogiri and Tomura explained what they wanted her to do while they prepared for the right moment to attack UA and All-Might. She nodded at the right times, questioned the right things, and once the talking was over she excused herself to the little girl's room.

She needed her Izuku, she hoped they made their attempt soon so she could show Izuku that she needed her too. Himiko took out the two pictures she'd forced a shop clerk to print for her, one was the picture of Bloody Mary's ruined corpse before she burned it. She imagined the joy Izuku would feel knowing that the person who stopped Bloody Mary from ever threatening her again wanted to be her friend, be her. She was sure Izuku would understand her, unlike all the others who screamed she knew once Izuku saw how much she cared she'd welcome her with open arms and a cut jugular.

"Izuku…" Himiko said as she brushed a finger over the second picture, a blown up picture of Izuku's face from when she'd been pulled from the clinic, covered in blood. Himiko grinned and her face flushed red as she traced a heart around Izuku's face, making sure the sides of the heart brushed over the image of Izuku's cheeks. "You'll be mine... we'll be one... I promise... no-one will ever hurt you but me, and you'll love the way I hurt you."

"We'll be so beautiful together."

* * *

 **Omake 4: Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Plushies of War, Part 2**

"It's missing something..." Gunhead said as he sat across from the upgraded plushie. Izuku had dubbed it 'Freedom Gunhead' and he had to admit he loved the name, even thought about marketing a few for sale with plushie guns instead of real ones. It was missing something though he just couldn't put his finger on it.  
In his lap, Izuku tilted her head before looking up at Gunhead. "I don't know, I think he's nice just the way he is."

Gunhead looked down at the teenaged girl he'd pulled into his lap out of a sudden sense that he needed to protect her from something, and a lightbulb lit up over his head.

"Lightbulb..."

"What?"

Later that day Toshinori and Mirio ran out of their car upon hearing gunshots at the beach, only to see Izuku coaching Osore on how to use the kettle weights while the five-foot plushie Freedom Gunhead sat in the sand and blasted bullets at the trash. It spun around as they walked closer, revealing a two-foot tall Izuku-Plushie sitting in its lap. "Male Detected!" "Hi!"

"Did the plushie Izuku just say hi, oh that's adorable!" Mirio said, Toshinori nodding beside him before they were both tackled to the ground by Katsuki.

"Get down you idiots!"

"Freedom Gunhead _No_!"


	12. Day with the Dead

_Welcome to UA Arc, Part 2 : Day with the Dead._

* * *

Katsuki wasn't someone who liked to sit around, he was someone who liked to move, liked to work up a sweat. He liked warm, loose clothes that made it easy to sweat but didn't press against his skin and immediately soak it up. He also didn't like long sleeves, they had a tendency to get caught up in his quirk.

Dealing with Izuku, learning from how her quirk affected her mind, comparing how what he enjoyed effected his ability to use his quirk had been a wake-up call just as Izuku's death and reanimation had been.

Realizing that their quirks made it so that her need to put others safety before her own just as natural as his need for a morning run to keep from getting grumpy later in the day had put a lot into perspective for him. All the times she protected others from him but didn't hold what he did to her against him, all the times she took slaps, punches, and explosions like they were nothing, but mere words could get to her, it all made sense. When her quirk activated it was even worse, she practically ignored any injury she took and would even hurt herself on a whim or to prove her quirk was real.

So Katsuki had to protect her, he had to remove reasons for her to hurt herself. Her life wasn't as important as that persons, She needed to take the blow, not if Katsuki blew up the guy trying to hurt the person. She needed to get on a rooftop to get a good view, she needed to cut her hand off, not if Katsuki could grab with one hand and use his quirk to rocket them both onto the rooftop. She needed to stop a villain, she would let him attack her and use the fact it doesn't actually hurt her like it does others to counter and pin, not if Katsuki blasted him in a way that opened the villain for her to grapple and pin.

Maybe it was a bit late to care about her physical and mental wellbeing, but he did care. He couldn't find himself to stay angry at her for the things she'd pull, it was as natural for her to stand in the line of fire so others wouldn't get hurt as it was for him enjoy warm weather over cold weather. So he'd focus his anger on other things, not get mad that she had run underneath a robot more than a dozen stories tall to save someone but instead get mad about stupid things that she didn't have an excuse for.

Like waking up with her floating against the ceiling of the building with small drops of blood on the ground below her.

"Why the fuck are you on the ceiling?" He said, getting Izuku to look down at him from the ceiling, while her new friend Ochaco, or Round Face as he preferred to call her, looked nervously at him. Izuku was wearing a black sailor top with white lines on the collar, a crimson tie, a black and red plaid shirt reaching down to her knees, and black fitted pants. Ochaco was in a button up pink shirt and black shorts that reached mid-thigh.

On the other side of the room was Momo, dressed in a pale pink button up shirt with slightly darker pink pants and a belt with a brass colored buckle. In her hands was a metal pole which she held horizontally in the air. Watching from one of the corners in the room, notepad in hand, was Tenya, in a blue polo shirt, dark grey slacks, and a simple leather belt.

Izuku opened her mouth and he could see a pair of fingers in her mouth, he looked at her hands and she was missing her right index and middle fingers.

"Don't talk with your mouth full."

Izuku pulled the fingers from her mouth and threw them at a pole Momo was holding up. The muscle strings reached out, connected, and Izuku's fingers curled around the pole before she zoomed forward faster than she usually does. "She wanted to see if my quirk would synergize with hers?" Ochaco said before tenting her fingers, making Izuku fall to her feet with the pole in hand.

"... You make shit float?"

"My quirk is Zero-Gravity, I can turn off the effects of gravity on anything I put my hands on." She said, holding up her hands to reveal a small pad on each of her fingertips, it reminded him of a cat. He looked back at Ochaco's eyes, she was still nervous around him, possibly even scared. He both liked and disliked that. He liked it because it meant he was a good deterrent for anyone who might try to go after Izuku for her quirk but disliked it because it made interacting with her other friends awkward until they realized he wasn't going to snap them in half over little things.

"Huh, neat." He said, then held up his hand. "I can sweat nitroglycerin from my palms and detonate it... we'd make a good aerial combo."

She could make him float, then he could use his explosions to maneuver rather than having to use repeated blasts to keep himself aloft. He heard Momo snort as his attempt to be less intimidating for Izuku's newest friend. Of the friends Izuku had made since she got her quirk He and Momo were the most distant to each other, they had more of an understanding than a friendship.

She understood he wanted to look after Izuku, keep her safe and make up for what he'd done. He understood that she was Izuku's friend, someone who could show her all the things he'd forced her to miss out on with his bullying. Speaking of which, maybe it was time they hit the town for a bit, so long as he mentioned where they were going they leave UA so long as they came back before five.

They'd relay the information to Gunhead, Gunhead would meet them about halfway through the trip to check on them, and there would be an out of the way escort watching over them. Usually an underground hero out of costume from what Nezu had told him when he noticed a scarred man watching them from a bench at the local park. He'd been surprised just how blue Retributions eyes were.

"Hey, you're here too... uh... Tenya, right?" Katsuki said as he noticed Tenya was just taking notes in the corner of the room. It had only been two days since the entrance exam and he'd noticed something rather quickly. Tenya Iida was awkward around people, his most relaxed state was stiffer than Katsuki as his most serious, and wanted to be a hero half out of a sense of family honor and half out of a desire to help others. He also seemed to admire Izuku, taking notes on how she acted around others, what she did to train.

Katsuki honestly didn't know how to deal with him, so he ignored the guy. If he wanted to put Izuku up on a pedestal and admire her well, at least he had a good taste in heroes. "Anyway, why don't we hit the local mall, with UA's acceptance letters coming soon maybe we should all do something to unwind?" Katsuki said, looking at Izuku who propped the pole she'd used on the wall. "We could grab some ice cream, hit the arcade, celebrate getting this far."

"That sounds like a great idea, after all, as heroes we'll need to be able to map out such areas in the event of a crisis!"

"Dude, does he ever relax?" Hitoshi said as he entered the room with a cup of hot chocolate, looking like he just woke up. Out of all of them, he tended to sleep in the longest, so Katsuki figuring he probably did just wake up. Tenya was too busy writing down notes to fire back at him, as Izuku had nodded to confirm what she agreed with what he said.

"From what I can tell, that is him relaxing," Katsuki said, getting a sarcastically drawn out sigh from Hitoshi while Momo let out a quiet laugh behind her hand.  
Hitoshi looked over at Izuku who was talking animatedly with Ochaco and Tenya, Katsuki guessed that the three of them liked the idea of the trip to the mall. "I should probably go clean up and get dressed, Momo, you want to drop by Tetsutetsu's dorm while I knock on Osores on the way back to mine?" He said, and Momo nodded before the two of them walked off.

Katsuki watched as Izuku turned over to him and smiled widely at him, he gave a small smile back and walked over to her and her two newest friends with his hands into the pockets of his camo cargo pants, his red t-shirt long enough to cover the fact his pants were about half a size too big and hanging just under his waist as a result.  
A small part of him whispered it should have been like this from the beginning, and he acknowledged that fact, another part said better late than never.

It didn't make him feel better considering just how late, but it was there. "Do you think they have Gunhead merchandise, I think I'm missing Coagulate from my collection..."

Izuku said, tilting her head, and Ochaco shrugged as Tenya pulled out his phone to look ahead of time.

Katsuki would keep an eye on them but was pretty sure he didn't need to. As many freaks as she attracted she also drew in a few normal people... as normal as one could be, anyway.

"We're all set, Momo and Tetsutetsu are heading down to the entrance waiting for us," Hitoshi said, Osore standing to his right wearing a white dress. Hitoshi himself was wearing a gray shirt, blue jeans, and a purple jacket. He nodded while Izuku grabbed Ochaco's hand and started pulling her towards the stairs, the girl quickly catching on and chasing after her. Osore quickly broke away from Hitoshi to follow after Izuku, with Hitoshi waiting for Katsuki and Tenya to start moving before falling in with them. "So, engines in your legs huh?"

"Yes, it's registered simply as Engine, might I ask what your quirk is?" Tenya said, getting the tired boy to smile widely, his lips parting slightly to give a peek of his teeth but not bare them.

"Brainwashing, I can control people who answer me when I talk to them," Hitoshi said, getting Tenya to miss a step and nearly trip over himself. Katsuki tilted his head to keep an eye on the blue-haired boy. If he had a problem with Hitoshi's quirk he'd need to keep it contained so Izuku didn't know her friends were fighting over something stupid. Also, he'd need to teach the guy a lesson about insulting people Izuku liked.

Not necessarily in that order.

Thankfully Tenya didn't seem to be bothered by the quirk. "Interesting, do you plan to join the ranks of Support Heroes?"

"That or go underground, I hear there's an underground hero teaching at UA that likes cats. Maybe he'll be my homeroom teacher."

Izuku let go of Ochaco's hand as they went down the stairs, Osore riding on her back. The girl had jumped onto Izuku and wrapped her legs around her waist with her arms going around Izuku's shoulders and neck. They had been hanging out on the third floor, where the living area and dorm rooms were. Two flights of stairs later they were ground floor, which acted mostly as a waiting area with a few vending machines and couches.

At the main doors were Momo, who had put on a sunhat, and Tetsutetsu, who was wearing a tight, brown t-shirt with the image of a kite shield on the front of his shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants with a silver twenty-six on the right leg. With them was someone Izuku hadn't met yet, a boy with spiky red hair and a small scar over his right eye, wearing a rust red shirt and denim shorts.

She blinked at him and he gave her a thumbs up. "Hey, the name's Eijiro Kirishima, you're Izuku right?" He said, walking up and holding out his hand for a handshake. "I met Tetsutetsu back after the entrance exam, it's nice to meet you."

Izuku grinned and accepted the handshake. "Yup, Izuku Midoriya, my quirk is Patchwork Zombie, what's yours?"

"Hardening, it lets me turn my body to solid rock, it gets pretty sharp too." He said before pulling his hand back and activating his quirk around his arm, his skin seemed to tighten and turn jagged. Izuku reached out and ran her finger over one of the edges, cutting it slightly. "Oh, crap, sor-"

Izuku giggled and held up her finger and three threads sealed up the cut, making Eijiro blink before grinning back at her. She noted he had razor sharp teeth like Tetsutetsu, and wondered if that was a trait of defensive quirks that affected the body. For a moment she wondered what it'd be like to have razor sharp teeth, with her bite force she'd be able to tear into anything.

"Seriously, I look away for a minute and there's a new person and blood on the floor, what the fuck?" Katsuki said as he entered into the room with Tenya and Hitoshi. Izuku paled and turned around, waving as innocently as she could. "Are those stitches on your finger, what did you do now?"

Izuku froze and looked at the hand she was waving at, seeing she'd waved with the hand she'd cut on Eijiro's arm. "Oh... um... oops?" She said as Katsuki rushed over to her and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her back and forth. "W-W-W-Wa-a-a-ah!"

"Stop constantly getting yourself cut up or broken apart!"

Eijiro looked over at Momo, Tetsutetsu, and Osore while Ochaco and Tenya looked at Hitoshi, all three of them having the same unspoken question in their expressions. Do they always do this?

"All the time." The four of them said to the three newest members of their little group

"I will lock you in a box made of bulletproof glass I fucking swear!"

"I-I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-so-o-o-o-orr-r-r-r-rry!"

Hitoshi, Momo, Tetsutetsu, and Osore sighed while Ochaco, Tenya, and Eijiro looked at the two with worried expressions before Katsuki stopped shaking Izuku. Her head fell back, her eyes swirling as he let her go and the two moved over to the others. "Alright, let's go have some fun."

"Alright, and uh, sorry about hurting your friend, I didn't think she'd-"

Hitoshi put a hand over Eijiro's mouth as Katsuki slowly turned towards the boy. "He means he's sorry Izuku got hurt, that's all," Hitoshi said before leaning in towards Eijiro's ear while Katsuki glared heavily at the two. "Are you trying to get us killed?"

"Mh bhd."

"... Whatever, let's get going, the pork restaurant at the food court is supposed to have a new spicy 'challenge' after Izuku and I annihilated it." Katsuki said, getting a sigh of relief from most of the group as he walked out of the door with Izuku running up to walk beside him. "Maybe this time it'll actually be one."

Hitoshi stopped covering Eijiro's mouth with his hand and patted him on the shoulder, then looked over at Ochaco and Tenya. "So, who's ready to see what happens when a zombie walks into a mall looking for food?" He said, grinning widely when the three made sounds of amusement. They'd learn, pork plus Izuku was no joke.

If anything, it made zombie movies look tame, especially when the spices made the meat a dark red.

The walk to the mall had been uneventful, though once they arrived they realized they were walking into more than they'd initially planned. Izuku's eyes started glittering with joy next to Osore's as they looked at the front doors of the mall with excitement. Behind them Katsuki's lips were pulled back into a grin promising pain and violence for any who challenged him, though beside him Eijiro and Tetsutetsu were looking at each other, accepting an unspoken challenge between them.

Momo sighed while Hitoshi palmed his face, both wholly aware that none of them would be getting a relaxing day of shopping, food, and minor hijinks now that they'd seen the entrance to the mall. Ochaco blinked at the size of the sign but figured it would probably be fun while Tenya started listing off all the benefits of taking up the large, burning advertisement on its challenge.

Over the mall doors was a large flat ship with the image two crossed machetes behind a drum.

 _ **DEEP FOREST LASER TAG**_

"Kacchan, think of all the practice we could get, stealth, guerilla tactics, practice our aim in low light environments-"

"We're going to destroy so many damn extras," Katsuki said, his eyes wide as he stared at the sign, imagining it in his mind's eye. He'd close his eyes before the match started along with the new guy, Iida. They'd listen to the instructions and have Izuku or someone else lead him into the darkened laser tag arena. With their eyes preadjusted they'd move in fast, take out a few then move into cover. Izuku would use the information the two of them brought back to create a strategy.

Total annihilation would follow, of those who enter only half would come back out as simply as one snapping their fingers.

"... And we'll have fun in a non-dangerous situation while learning these essential hero skills?" Izuku said, looking over at a very, very excited Katsuki. Katsuki then grabbed Izuku's arm and started dragging her towards the entrance with a low chuckle. "K-Kacchan, what are you doing!?"

"We're grabbing something to eat and going over strategies, that laser tag place might be new but it's about to meet it's top high scores for the rest of eternity."

"And there he goes," Eijiro said, then grinned himself before hitting his fists together. "Not even an hour and I already like the guy, setting the bar so high for himself and the people around him!"

"All the more reason to kick his ass, a rival who's self-expectations has no limit! Let's go!" Tetsutetsu said as the two started running after Katsuki, who had broken into a run fast enough to have Izuku flying behind him screaming. "Like hell he's going to be number one without a fight!"

The others stared at the dust trails the three boys made and listened to the comically terrified screams of Izuku before Tenya spoke up. "They're right, we're trying for UA, we can't let this chance pass us by, we must go forth and aim for number one!"

Ochaco pumped a fist into the air. "Yeah!" She said before the two also started running towards the mall entrance, though Tenya did have enough control over himself to keep from accidentally using his quirk to catch up.

Hitoshi paled while Momo laughed behind her hand and Osore chased after her rapidly disappearing friends. "Oh, I think they'll get along fine with the rest of us."

"Damn... I was hoping for at least one more voice of reason..." Hitoshi said as he cradled his head in his hands, causing Momo to laugh a bit louder as she reached to pat his shoulder while the two walked forward. "Why am I the only voice of reason here..."

"Because the glue holding us all together is literally a zombie girl."

"... Damn it..."

* * *

Mei Hatsume knew she was a bit different from other people, and in her honest opinion, it was a good thing. Other people were simple, they had limits they were willing to bend to, they didn't let their minds wander unfettered. They let the world bend them or expected the world to bend to them, never simply standing before its challenges as equals and working around them so that no-one had to bend but instead smaller things could stand together to equal themselves and the challenges the world threw at them.

They were _boring_.

But she'd let them be boring, she'd enter into UA and show them all just how amazing one could be with two hands, some scrap, and eyes that acted like built-in microscopes or binoculars. She'd build the best tech, the world would challenge her and she'd stand tall before those challenges, admire them, acknowledge them, and keep walking right on past them. She'd hold out a device that grabbed everyone's attention and forced them to look at her as she passed by that challenge like it was her best friend, the challenge admitting defeat but rather than bow to her would stand beside her as proof.

So when she woke up this morning, sat at her desk, and picked up her pencil to start sketching out a new idea only to freeze up and realize she didn't have a new idea, she panicked. Mei had less than a week until UA started and god only knew how many chances she'd get to work on her babies then! So she got dressed in her favorite oil, grease, and sweat stained t-shirt, denim overalls, and her trusty working boots, and came to the mall. Once she arrived, she tried to find things she could improve on or toys she could make into weapons or armor.

It wasn't working too well.

So she started people watching in the food court, hoping to find an interesting someone she could build a hero suit for. With UA's exams coming soon there would surely be hero hopefuls walking around, excited and thinking about their hero costumes. Then she could offer her services, show off a few of the babies she brought with her, and she'd have a new project to milk for new ideas! It was the perfect plan, all it required was some careful usage of her quirk to watch people from a distance, find a person, and then walk by them and show off her babies.

* * *

"The rules for the Phaal of the Reaper challenge are simple, you have twenty minutes to eat, to forfeit simply drink from the glass of milk... begin!" A man said as Izuku and Katsuki started digging into the bowls of bright red phaal in front of them, Tetsutetsu and Eijiro cheering them between bites of their own food. The new challenge Katsuki had heard about was a bowl of phaal curry with chopped pork. Not much was said about the recipe, but the main pepper in the curry was ghost peppers, while the pork had been marinated prior to cooking in blended Carolina reapers. Katsuki could admit it was definitely hotter than the last challenge, but he wasn't going to let it beat him, not in front of Izuku.

That it was making him sweat actually helped him, as it triggered the part of his brain that said 'this is helping my quirk, this is good'.

Izuku, on the other hand, was simply enjoying the heat the food incited in her mouth and throat. It reminded her of the times when her dad would come home and make spicy food to try and help her get a quirk, saying he'd learned about his fire breathing when he ate a chili pepper as a challenge and screamed from the heat. Over time she started to enjoy spicy food, and as she became friends with Katsuki she enjoyed it more because it was something they could enjoy together. It was one of the few things that let her know he still liked being around her, as whenever she had spicy food with her for lunch he'd sit next to her and they'd talk about what ingredients they used to get as much of a kick as they could.

Tenya watched with a pale face as the two ate, his own food practically forgotten in front of him while Tetsutetsu ate his own food with similar gusto. "M-My lips feel warm and my nose is burning just breathing near them, and they're consuming it, how dreadful..." He said, causing Tetsutetsu to look up at him with a mouth full of Korean barbeque shrimp. He chewed a few more times before swallowing, his face was red and he was sweating heavily, but the burning in his mouth was hardly going to stop him.

Tetsutetsu took a drink from his glass of water before speaking up. "It's more than just a meal, it's a challenge! The meals before them are more than just food to nourish them but also a hurdle to jump, a mountain to climb!" Tetsutetsu said, getting Tenya's attention as the red-faced, sweating boy stood up. Tetsutetsu put a fist over his heart as he spoke as if explaining some great wisdom. "They saw food designed to be difficult to eat and decided instead of an easy meal to eat and forget they would bolster and train their fighting spirit by eating a meal that fights back! What villain could scare them with mere threats and disguises, they have seen true pain and they have devoured it!"

Tenya gapped up at Tetsutetsu, sitting before the standing boy whose face was slowly returning to its normal shade as a result of the short break from the spicy bowl of shrimp. The angle had one of the malls florescent lights shining behind the silver-haired boy, giving him a halo of light as he stood tall. He felt tears run down his cheeks as he suddenly felt as though he understood. Overcoming hardship in and over itself was one of the major parts of being a hero, to be able to push past pain and adversity. _'Her first response when she sees something difficult is to fight it and win because she's always fighting to prove herself anyway, hard to eat, eat anyway, hard to fight, fight anyway. She truly puts every moment of her life into being a hero!'_

"Sir, I would like to try the challenge as well!" Tenya said with a fierce look in his eyes before running over to the restaurant. Eijiro, who had heard the whole thing, looked at the food in front of him. A hamburger steak with mushrooms and gravy, with some chopped potatoes on the side. He looked at the food Tetsutetsu was eating, seeing him struggle with the food while Izuku and Katsuki shoveled bite after bite of curry that smelt like it was as close to a chemical weapon as one could find in a kitchen. He looked back at his food and then at the table around them, his eyes landing on a bottle of what looked like hot sauce. Eijiro grabbed it and poured it over his food before he started eating as quickly as he could, tears welling in his eyes as the heat hit and started to burn the inside of his mouth.

 _'They're so manly, I can't just sit and watch, I have to fight too!'_

Momo sighed and stabbed her fork through her food, even when they ate the boys found ways to be extra about it. She'd ordered a trout fillet with scalloped potatoes, lots of different fats to help keep her quirks supply of fat high while not becoming unhealthy. Izuku was also being extra about it but she at least had a non-challenge related reason. Her family was sometimes a bit distant but she saw her parents every day at least once, Izuku didn't have that and spicy food was a stable part of her father's visits. She wasn't sure what kind of response she'd have if she only saw her father a few times a year.

Ochaco watched as the others ate, bringing a skewer of mitarashi dango to her mouth and biting into one of the dumplings. She'd realized quickly that Izuku wasn't normal by any standard when she'd explained how she used her quirk to do more than just recover from injuries, but also to enhance her training and use injuries to move around quickly or grab far off objects prior to them testing if her quirk would make moving around easier for Izuku. Still, unlike Tenya and Eijiro she decided against going for spicy food for now. She'd decided on a plate of three dango skewers and mochi with a glass of green tea, Osore sitting across from her eating takoyaki seemingly oblivious to the people around her as she ate ball after ball of cooked octopus. "So... is what he said true?" She said, turning to Hitoshi, who had a large paper cup filled with beet juice and drinking it through a straw.

Hitoshi snorted in amusement as he took a long drink of his juice, then pulled the straw from his mouth. "Not really, Izuku eats it because she's got fond memories regarding spicy food and built up a huge tolerance so it takes a lot to actually make her sweat. Also, her dad is supposed to be able to breathe fire, so she might have some resistance from that." He said as he put the cup down and grabbed a fork to bring some spaghetti marinara to his mouth, slurping up a few tomato sauce soaked noodles into his mouth, chewing, and swallowing before he continued. "Katsuki on the other hand like anything that makes him sweat, so he has the disposition to go after spicy food, which just further fueled Izuku's tendency to grab spicy food... it's like an arms race only instead of weapons and hate it's absurdly spicy food and a desire for friendship. Almost makes me feel sorry for UA, considering they'll have to try and find ways to keep the two from taking Plus Ultra well beyond what's sane."

Tenya returned with his own Phaal of The Reaper bowl, sat down next to Izuku again, and took a bite. Ochaco, Momo, and Hitoshi all watched as his face turned red, tears bursting from his eyes like a hole had been blasted through a dam, and a high pitched squeal of pain was only slightly muffled by closed lips. Tetsutetsu and Eijiro looked up from their food in response to the noise Tenya was making just in time for Tenya look up, open his mouth, and scream. Beads of sweat started pouring down his face and neck, near instantly soaking the neckline of his shirt. Tetsutetsu grabbed the glass of milk and dumped it into Tenya's mouth, causing the scream to turn into violent gargling before the blue haired boy closed his mouth and swallowed the milk, then slumped forward with his eyes spinning.

"Yeah... there's a reason we don't let those two pick out our food."

"How does she stay cool eating food that hot?" Ochaco said, having noticed Izuku's lower than average body temperature from her dragging her around during her visit back at the dorms. Hitoshi shrugged while Momo held a hand up, index finger to the sky.

"Spicy foods actually cool the body down, they induce perspiration which is the bodies main way of cooling itself off. Come to think of it that might be another reason she enjoys spicy meals, I'll have to find some recipes..." Momo said as she pulled out her cell and entered in a note to remind herself of the idea later. Ochaco watched as Eijiro and Tetsutetsu moved to try and get Tenya to sit back up. The large boy just sat there, not really reacting to the two and their attempts to get a response out of him again. "Granted, how sweating works for a zombie is a question in and over itself."

Izuku and Katsuki both lifted their bowls up and started to shovel the last bits of food into their mouths before slamming the bowls down, both empty. Katsuki let out a roar of victory while Izuku sighed contently. Once he was done he leaned forward. "Alright, now that we've all had some food, let's talk strategy! We're probably not going up against any halfway decent extras, barely even worthy of calling stepping stones, but you don't come out on top by half-assed efforts." He said as Izuku handed the bowls over to the restaurant worker who'd been watching them, the man looking absolutely terrified of the green haired girl in front of him. Ochaco sat up straighter as Osore continued to pop takoyaki into her mouth, still lost in her own little world. "Round Face, you'll stick with Izuku, Muffin top, and Blueberry, while Four Eyes and I take point to scout the enemy with Hardhead 1, Hardhead 2, and the insomniac follow from behind us so they report if we get taken down. From there either all of us or some of us will come back and Izuku can take over strategy from there, any questions?"

"Do you have to call me Hardhead 2?" Eijiro said while Ochaco looked at her reflection in the glass of green tea she'd been drinking from in response to being called 'Round face'. Tenya simply pushed his glasses straighter and looked at Katsuki in disapproval while Momo, Hitoshi, Tetsutetsu, and Izuku sighed. Meanwhile, Osore was looking at her empty plate, pouting at the fact she'd run out of takoyaki. Seeing Osore's pout, Ochaco offered one of her mochi, which the girl took with a silent face of joy before bringing it to her mouth and taking rapid tiny bites out of the sweet rice cake. "Surely I'm not just some copy of this guy to you?"

Eijiro jabbed a thumb at Tetsutetsu, but was ignored as Katsuki stood up and slammed a fist into his open hand. Izuku smiled up at her childhood friend and stood up as well, followed by the others. Eijiro palmed his face at the lack of response but still followed the group. "Seriously, our quirks or totally different, he's metal, I'm rock, he's shiny and smooth, I'm rough and sharp, we're totally different!" He said, only for Tetsutetsu to pat his shoulder as they started to make their way to the laser tag arena. None of them aware of the girl watching them. A few times they got sidetracked, going into small stores and looking around, with a few of them mentally tagging items to come back for on the way out of the mall.

Before they knew it, they were at the laser tag arena, ready to buy their tickets and get suited up in the sensor vests. Momo had paid for the group to play, and they were placed on the same team and told to wait in a room. "Why are we waiting, we can totally take the other extras, just the nine of us!" Katsuki said as he pulled a sensor vest over his head and onto his body. Next to him was a set of rules they had to obey once the game started. "Quirks or not, they're still just extras compared to us!"

 **Rule 1: No Quirks**

 **Rule 2: Once hit, you have three seconds to keep shooting, after that the gun turns off.**

 **Rule 3: Victory is decided by either shooting enemy base core ten times or taking out entire enemy team.**

 **Rule 4: No pistol whipping or stock strikes, they won't register and can cause real injuries.**

 **Rule 5: Friendly Fire is active, you will not trigger your own team's sensors via gunfire, barrel blasts will trigger friendly sensors however.**

"I'm not sure which scares me more, that they had to specify no quirks, or that they had to specify hitting people with the fake gun is bad," Momo said, Tenya nodding next to her while Hitoshi snapped his fingers.

"Damn, there goes my idea of commanding them all to shoot themselves," Hitoshi said, getting a mildly disturbed look from Ochaco.

Izuku, now wearing the sensor vest over her clothes, looked at the map of the area provided in the room. It didn't provide any details, instead just showing the various zones one could get to and where they all connected. On either end of the map was a 'spawn room', where everyone started depending on which team they were on. Each connected to a base, underneath that image was a list of what could be found, an armory, the core, and the waiting room for each team. That told her where she was at least. Outside of the two bases was the main battlefield, four times the size of the bases if the maps were accurate about the size, with a note underneath saying it was a maze of brush and trees.

According to the person they'd gotten tickets from there was almost enough people for a ten versus ten match, they just needed a few more people. Their team in particular just needed one person, so she didn't think they'd be waiting very long. There had been a fairly big crowd outside of the entrance after all. She heard a door open and turned to see a girl with pink, asymmetrical locks, a very stained t-shirt, overalls, and tall leather boots that were built for safety rather than design. Once the pink haired girl spotted Izuku she rushed over to her and grabbed her hands, the sudden closeness allowing Izuku to see the girls yellow eyes had crosshairs around her pupils. "You're perfect, with you I'll be able to make so many babies!"

Izuku just looked at the girl. "Eh?"

"How absolutely inappropriate, to barge in saying such indecent things, there is a process to such actions!" Tenya said, rushing over and chopping the air between the two girls with one hand while the other held his glasses in place. Eijiro and Tetsutetsu just stared from where they'd been helping Osore find a sensor vest that would fit her smaller frame, Tetsutetsu turning into metal while Eijiro's hardening quirk turned his flesh hard and sharp. Osore looked at the two boys and then at their hands around the vest they'd pulled onto her, and found she was stuck and started flailing her arms and legs. Ochaco's face turned bright red as she clapped both hands over her mouth to stifle a gasp, inadvertently activating her quirk and proceeding to float into the air. "One should inquire about going out to lunch or dinner, getting to know one another over the course of many months and even years before inquiring after such activities!"

Katsuki stood ramrod straight, his head and right eye twitching as he looked at the girl who currently was holding Izuku's hands, while Hitoshi brought his fingers to his temples and started rubbing circles. Momo had her cell out, looking through the ingredient list for pepper spray. "What are you talking about, I just want to make some babies to help her out, you guys are going to UA right, she needs a hero costume!" She said, getting everyone to stop reacting to her comment and just stare at her in confusion. Ochaco's quirk released and she started to fall, causing Izuku to pull her hands from Mei's grip and run to catch her. "I'm Mei Hatsume, genius inventor and soon to be the best support student UA's ever had!"

She pointed at Izuku, who had caught Ochaco just in time. "She was famous and when the school year starts she's going to be famous again, which is the perfect chance for me to show off my babies to all the best support companies watching UA!" Mei said, getting into Tenya's personal space as she spoke, she then moved to Hitoshi and did the same. "And making stuff for an up and coming hero will get my creativity flowing again, and then I'll be able to make stuff for all her friends too, proving my babies are for everyone in every situation!"

Katsuki started to calm down just in time to find his anger spiking even more as Mei moved over to him and got up in his face. "With me, you'll get personalized gear and because I made it under the support course license UA has to allow it's students to create equipment and legally test it. If there's ever a problem I can-"

He grabbed her face and pushed her back, he didn't like it when people got that close that he didn't know. Once someone was in that close throwing a proper punch was effectively out of the question. "-fix the issues immediately rather than you having to put in a request to have them taken to an outside company!" She said, pulling Katsuki's hand from her face and getting back in his personal space to finish her sentence. Izuku helped Ochaco back onto her feet and looked at the girl who was getting dangerously close to Katsuki, and decided to intervene.

"You, want to help build my hero equipment, like my costume and tools?"

"Yes, you'd look amazing with my babies!" Mei said before the main lights turned off and the secondary lights kicked on, creating a much dimmer room. Mei ran over to the vests and grabbed a vest for herself, pulling it over her head while Katsuki glared up at the lights.

"Alright Pinkie Locks, you stick with Izuku for now!" Katsuki said as they all ran out of the room, the lights in the arena were dimmer, with a synthetic fog dampening the light. The lights on their vests lit up, making it easier for the group to spot each other as they moved to the armory, which had ten laser pistols and five laser rifles, and a pair of barrels that had laser diodes and sensors on them. A sign in the armory showed a blue stick figure shooting a laser at one of the barrels, and then the barrel sending lasers out like a disco ball hitting both a red and a blue human silhouette. "Hardheads, Insomniac, Round Face, Muffin top, grab rifles and a pistol just in case. The rest of you grab pistols and find cover around the Core, we'll take the first look, let's go wreck these extras!"

"Don't forget to have fun!" Izuku said as the group moved back into the core room, Katsuki and the boys heading through the door to the main battlefield while Izuku and the girls went into further into the core room. The core was a large block about the same size as Izuku, with small half walls in front of it to provide cover for defenders and attackers. She took cover directly in front of the core with Osore while Ochaco took a spot near the left side of the room, Momo opposite of her. Finally, Mei took cover on a raised platform behind the core. First Katsuki would do their part, then they'd form a new plan based on how the other team was acting. She noted the cover plates were made of multiple thin blocks next to each other, each having its own sensor, and looked to be extended from the ground and kept that note in her mind.

Katsuki narrowed his eyes as he noticed a lack of sensors in his view field. That meant either the enemy was covering them with their hands or they hadn't left their base yet. Tenya was flanking his left while Eijiro, Tetsutetsu, and Hitoshi stayed a few paces behind them just in case, keeping low while he stood upright with Tenya. Katsuki took a deep breath before he crouched down and watched the light of a laser go over him, they're firing from the base doors. He looked at the floor of the entrance to the enemy base and saw two lights, shoulder lights so going prone wouldn't make someone invisible in the fog. He saw a beam of light hit the left shoulder light, given the angle it was Hitoshi who reacted first.

Not a surprise, of course the one with the brain powerful enough to control other people also had the quickest capacity to perceive a situation and react. Katsuki and Tenya moved to use a tree as cover while Hitoshi, Tetsutetsu, and Eijiro took cover in the bushes.

Tetsutetsu and Eijiro opened fire next, aiming for the same areas in the other base entrances, he saw a light go out, two down, eight to go. "Alright let's get back to Izuku, we've got a plan to make," Katsuki said as the group started backing up, with Eijiro turning around to let them know if they were being flanked so they wouldn't be caught off guard. He wasn't sure if there was a prize involved aside from bragging rights but even without that he wouldn't let this be anything other than a total victory. 'No matter what, I'll always be number one in everything I do. I'll be the hero Izuku wrote about in her notebooks.'

* * *

Coagulate watched from the security room with a smirk, Gunhead had picked an interesting kid to monitor and teach. Sure it wasn't exactly the best strategy she'd ever seen but they were kids and the strategy was working. Personally, she would have only sent four people to scout forward, less risk that way if there was an ambush, but it was still early in the game. They made it back to their base and Katsuki seemed to report what he'd found to Izuku and Momo, unfortunately, she didn't have access to sound, only the security operator had that. Tetsutetsu and the other boy Eijiro based on the name they'd signed on the arenas sign up sheet, piped in a few times as well before Izuku pointed them at the armory.

She checked the other base to see the two that had tried to ambush the others were going back into the spawn room to wait out the rest of the game while the others set up the barrel traps near the doors. Looking closely she saw the group Izuku and her friends were up against were in matching uniforms, a group of laser tag enthusiasts most likely. Coagulate decided to let Izuku surprise her and kept an eye on her opponents. They were taking positions to best be able to use the barrels to take out the first forward push and then move to flank anyone who entered, boxing in attackers in unfamiliar territory. She hated being in a position like that when dealing with villains, so she admired the strategy and wondered how Izuku would get around it.

Finally, there was movement but not what she expected, instead of rushing in what was moving into the enemies base was both of the barrels from Izuku's base. The movement was enough to cause the trigger happy ambushers to shoot, instead activating the barrels and getting themselves eliminated while the barrier sensors were tripped, causing them to be pulled back into the ground leaving most of the enemy with no cover. Then their own barrels went off as they're sensors had been activated by Izuku's barrels as well, wiping out the enemy team in one attack.

And just to add salt to the wound, all four barrels going off shot enough lasers to trip the cores sensors ten times, causing it the lights to turn off. They hadn't just won, they'd completed both victory conditions without even entering the enemy base when you only needed to complete one of the conditions to win.

"Damn, day one and I'm already impressed with children these days." The security monitor said before he turned on his mic. "Blue Team wins by total annihilation of the enemy. Thank you for playing."

Coagulate's smirk turned to a grin as she turned and headed out of the security room to meet up with Izuku. 'She'll make a damn good hero.'

* * *

"That was brilliant!" Eijiro said as he bear-hugged Izuku from the side and spun her around. Katsuki huffed, while he'd admit it was a good plan he hadn't gotten to show off or go one-on-one with any of the enemy players, instead, they'd done a massive environment kill that those idiot extras had gone and activated on themselves. Meanwhile, Osore jumped up and down around Izuku, pumping her fists into the air while Tenya wrote down notes in his notepad in regards to how Izuku handled the situation. Momo and Hitoshi watched the scene with a smile as Tetsutetsu stood next to Eijiro, both fists in the air as he let out a victorious battle cry. A few paces away from all of them Mei looked over the group and grinned as she started to think of some weapon designs they could use in a similar fashion as they'd used the laser tag weapons.

She hadn't even gotten into their quirks and she already found the spark she'd found missing this morning. She grinned and licked her lower lip, they'd be perfect templates for her babies!

"Not bad kid, I wasn't sure what sort of plan you'd come up with but that certainly wasn't it."

The group of friends all turned towards the voice, Eijiro dropping Izuku back on her feet as they did. Coagulate was clapping slowly in full costume, her crossbow strapped to her back. She walked over and rubbed the top of Izuku's head while Tenya, Eijiro, Ochaco, and Mei watched in shock at the casual treatment between hero and their new friend. Coagulate also started shaking hands and congratulating the boys and Momo, then rubbed Osores head before turning to the four new members of Izuku's group of friends. "You four did well too, Gunhead should be pretty happy to hear Izuku's got a few new friends... it's like she's already starting her own agency."

While the others became more comfortable with Coagulate, realizing somehow Izuku was friends with heroes before even getting into UA, Mei's eyes widened thinking about what Coagulate had just said. That was it, the missing piece, the part that she needed to get her brain spinning with ideas again. So long she just made whatever random thought came to mind but if she was acting directly for an agency or group of heroes instead of a support company... she wouldn't just make whatever was needed, she'd be able to create powerful babies and then advance on them, watch them grow as hero needs changed!

Her grin widened as her brain started whirling with little ideas, The blue-haired boy was big and he had engines in his legs, so definitely some sort of streamlined armor that wouldn't create too much drag but would be able to protect his easy to aim at form. The brown haired girl who could float had looked a bit nauseous after she stopped floating after she'd freaked out over Mei's comment, so something to help stabilize the inner ear and brains signals so she wouldn't get nauseous as easily. She wasn't sure about the other quirks, but if she could learn about them she could help tweak their costumes under UA's student licenses. She could make specialized designs, advance them beyond any other heroes costume, prove to the world she was the best!

She blinked as she realized the group was starting to walk off and ran to catch up with them, she had so many questions to ask, so many babies to create! She couldn't wait until UA started!

"So, you're Tenya Iida huh, Tensei's little brother?" Coagulate said as they came up to a hero merchandise store, Izuku dragging Ochaco and Osore in while Momo and Katsuki walked in calmly. Tetsutetsu and Eijrio turned to look at Tenya who sighed and nodded. "Huh, heck of a shadow to try and escape, worked with him a few times, especially during the Murder of Bloody Mary case."

Tenya nodded again. "He spoke of it at home when it became too much to take silently, though I didn't understand why..."

"Bloody Mary was a monster, Gunhead shared photos with the agency of what the inside of the clinic looked like, to make sure we all understood the danger." Coagulate said. "And then, we discover someone capable of ending that was and still is intent on pulling a happy little hero hopeful into the darkness for god knows what... Your brother wasn't the only one who was ready to start busting heads."

Tenya watched through the large windowpane as Izuku pulled a Space Hero Thirteen plushie and pushing it into Ochaco's arms, the girl seemed surprised by the act and tried to hand it back only for Izuku to keep pushing it into her arms. Once Ochaco had relented Izuku looked at Osore who pointed up at a Death Arms plushie. He watched as Izuku picked Osore up and helped her reach the plushie, who then gave it a tight squeeze as she was lowered back to the ground.

"I think I can see why."

* * *

The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful, Coagulate eventually left to get back to her usual hero duties and Ochaco, Tenya, Eijiro, and Mei left go get back to their homes as the sun started to set. Izuku yawned as they reached the dorm building, Osore already asleep and clinging to Hitoshis back while Momo, Tetsutetsu, and Katsuki walked behind the rest of them, a taser in Momo's hand just in case someone attacked them on the way home. As Izuku went to open the door Katsuki rushed up in front of her and opened it for her and the others. "We beat the new food challenge at the mall, set the bar for any suckers who want to try a game of laser tag, and met up with a support student who seems eager to make gear for us... Did you remember to send her copies of the costume designs?"

Izuku nodded at Katsuki, who grinned as the group made their way up the stairs to the floor their rooms were on. The smell of a homecooked meal already lighting up their senses as they opened the door to the third floor. They walked in to see their parents, as well as the other three clinic victims and their families, setting a large table with all kinds of food, chicken, sliced pork, brisket, ribs, and all the sides they could think of. There was also a large celebration banner over the table, with Principal Nezu, Toshinori, and two heroes that Izuku immediately recognized.

"Eraserhead! Vlad King!" Izuku said, running up to the two heroes. Shota, otherwise known as Eraserhead didn't respond much aside from a short wave while Sekijiro, Vlad King, kneeled down and held a fist out. Toshinori held back a laugh while Nezu laughed openly as the excited girl punched out to fist bump the large hero. There was a loud sound of flesh striking flesh, followed by a tiny dog-like whine before Sekijiro stood back up and rubbed his knuckles. "Oh, I need my notebook!"

Izuku ran off to her room and once the door shut Sekijiro looked over at Nezu with a mild, pain filled glare. "You could have mentioned, she forgets her strength from time to time." He said as he grabbed his middle and ring fingers and popped them back into place. At that almost all of the adults started laughing, along with Tetsutetsu and Katsuki, Shota just grinned at his fellow teacher's pain and Momo sighed. Hitoshi, on the other hand, was busy carrying Osore over to where her parents were starting to sit, setting her in the chair next to them.

"What's the fun in that?" Nezu said as he hopped into a chair next to where Toshinori was beginning to sit, which put the animal principal directly across from Inko. Toshinori had decided he wanted to sit across from Izuku so he could get a good look at her face when she realized the dream he said she couldn't achieve was coming true. He wanted to watch the bad memories he caused disappear, to see her realize in full that he was wrong and she could be a hero. "Now, I know everyone would like to start now, but we do have two more guests coming to eat with us... well, coming to see us at least, eating with us is in the air."

"'Cause he's a prick," Sekijiro said under his breath as he sat down next to Nezu, Shota sitting next to him just in time for Izuku's door to swing open and her to run out with a notebook and pen. She ran up to Sekijiro and Shota as everyone else started to sit down and held out the book. Shota smirked and took the book, wondering if she wholly realized how rare it was to get a signature from him before passing it to Sekijiro, who signed it as well. Once she got it back she squealed just in time for the door to the stairway to swing open loudly. Izuku turned her head to see who else was coming and saw the other student who had been brought in by recommendation, Shoto Todoroki. He was wearing a simple white suit with a light blue tie that resembled ice and matching shoes.

Behind him was his father, Enji Todoroki, otherwise known by his hero name Endeavor, in full costume much like Shota and Sekijiro. Most of his usual flames were put out, but he still retained the fiery beard, mustache, and domino mask. "You said you wanted to meet us here, Nezu?" Enji said as the two walked into the room, Izuku moving her signature book behind her back. She knew enough about the hero to know he wouldn't say yes to an autograph, ask him to beat a villain up and he'd smile and ask how hard, probably, ask for a signature, you'd probably find the pen in your toilet later that day if you bothered to look.

"Since most of the families with recommended children were already here and we had news for one Izuku Midoriya, we thought we could all share a nice meal and let certain students know what to expect on the first day," Nezu said, getting a scoff from Enji. Nezu just stared at the Flame Hero with a smile on his face, already able to see the man struggling to keep a straight face as the smell of the food hit his nostrils. Nezu tapped his paw pads against each other as he tented his paws, his smile widening as the Flame Hero nodded and took a seat at the table, Shota sitting between him and Sekijiro. Izuku's eyes lit up as she realized what Nezu meant by news for her and rushed over to her seat next to her mother.

"Now, before we eat, I would first like to say thank you for having treated the dorms we assigned to you so well, the follow below us will end up being the floor for student dormitories once the school year comes into full swing. In other news, this is the largest group of recommendation students we've ever had so we're going to be splitting you up between our two hero classes, 1-A and 1-B." Nezu said, holding a small wine glass in hand as he spoke. "Those going to Class A will be Minoru Mineta, Momo Yaoyarozu, Shoto Todoroki, and Katsuki Bakugo, your homeroom teacher will be Shota Aizawa. Going to Class 1-B will be Roy Kestrel, Tsubame Bantan, Osore Dendo, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, and Hitoshi Shinsou, your homeroom teacher will be Sekijiro Kan."

As he said names he gestured his wine glass to the person in question, then gestured to Izuku with an envelop he pulled from his suit with his free paw. "As for you Izuku, in my hand is your official acceptance letter to UA, not only did you manage to complete the exam which you had a choice of avoiding through recommendations, you also got the highest score by quite a gap." He said, getting a happy gasp from Inko as she pulled her daughter into a hug while Izuku looked at the envelope in awe. "Welcome to Class 1-A, Izuku Midoriya, UA High School will be your Hero Academia."

Izuku reached over the table and took the letter from Nezu's paw and sat back down, Nezu then tapped his glass with a claw. "Now, I think it's time we ate this delicious food!"

"Itadakimasu!"

* * *

 _ **Omake 5: IMP Squad**_

"Alright, I think we all know why I've gotten all of us together today," Katsuki said as he looked around the table, sitting before him was Momo, Hitoshi, Tetsutetsu, Eijiro, Osore, Ochaco, and Tenya. The room only had one light shining down centered with the circular table, it was a simple wooden table with simple wooden chairs. He tossed forward a manila folder, a few photos of Izuku sliding out as it stopped in the center of the table. "Izuku Midoriya, our friend, is a precious cinnamon roll that people keep trying to take bites out of, we can't let that happen."

"What are you proposing?" Ochaco said, with Osore nodding next to her. Katsuki stood up and put his hands on the table, leaning his weight on them.

"In that folder is multiple copies of a certain sheet of paper, an application to an organization I'll be forming once UA starts, a group dedicated to the protection of one Izuku Midoriya and her innocent heart," Katsuki said as he reached over and opened the folder for all to see it's contents. "A group who will cause havoc and mayhem for anyone who dares to go near her with impure intentions... seeing as we can't actually cause harm as much as I'd like to."

"And the name for this... organization?" Momo said, already reaching for one of the applications.

"The Izuku Midoriya Protection Squad, or IMP Squad."

"... Really going for the mischief theme huh?" Hitoshi said.

"Shut up, you come up with an acronym if you think you've got better!"


	13. Quirk Apprehension Test

_Welcome to UA High, Part 3 : Quirk Apprehension Test._

* * *

Izuku stood in front of the door to class 1-A, marveling at the size of the doorway, her backpack stuffed with her hero analysis journals and an empty journal in her hands. Next to her was Ochaco and Iida, standing with awestruck faces while Momo and Eijiro smiled, proud of the fact they had made it to the best hero school in the nation. All of them were dressed in their new UA uniforms, though Izuku had difficulty with the tie leaving it shorter than it should.

Momo's first instinct had been to fix it but then decided the short tie looked adorable on the girl and tied her hair into twin side-tails with big red ribbons that stuck upward like rabbit ears. For a moment Izuku wondered why it seemed like all of her friends likened her to a rabbit, but figured there were worse animals to be compared to. She was a zombie after all.

Katsuki, wearing his uniform pants loose and low, his red tie nowhere to be seen and his blazer half unbuttoned as well the top two buttons of his white undershirt, did not stand in awe. "Time for the lot of us to show this school the next best hero team." He said before bringing his right leg up, his knee turning the handle before extending his foot to kick it wide open. The door banged against the wall and Katsuki walked into the classroom with one hand in his pockets and the other jabbing a thumb towards his own chest. "Name's Katsuki Bakugo, hope you all don't mind being the side characters to my origin story."

"Stop disrespecting everyone you see!" Iida said, chopping the air in front of him while Momo palmed her face and sighed. Izuku laughed weakly while Ochaco just stared at Katsuki in shock. Izuku then entered the room and looked at the people that would be her classmates in their journeys to becoming heroes.

There were five rows of seats set into four columns, and most of them had students. Closest to them and the door was a boy with a slightly long blond hair that parted on the right, long eyelashes, and very smooth skin. She also noted that he'd combed back most of his hair save for the left bangs, which he had go up slightly then fall forward to cover the left side of his forehead and part of his ear. With how shiny his hair was he reminded her of a prince in a cartoon. His purple eyes sparkled like gemstones though his expression was one of muted surprise.

Next to him was a boy with slightly darker blond hair that was cut short and wild, but also fell flat on his head rather than spike up like Katsukis. He looked fairly average though his eyes were a bit small, instead what really set him out was the long, thick tail that was ramrod straight behind the tense and surprised boy.  
Further down the row was a very tall boy with white hair coming down over most of his slightly elongated head and face, with a blue mask that covered his lower face and neck. Only one dark eye was visible, and she couldn't really read any emotion off of it. Another thing that set him apart from the others was his six arms that were webbed like the tentacles of a vampire squid.

The last person in that row she couldn't see, literally, it was a floating female uniform with flailing sleeves. She could hear her though, she had a very energetic voice with a lot of emotion. Izuku figured it was because with no way to speak through facial expressions she had to increase how much her voice said. "Hey, we're not side characters, we're here to be heroes too you know!"

Behind the first blond boy was another girl, this one very visible, with pink skin, yellow eyes with black sclera, and small yellow horns poking out of her messy pink hair, which was a few shades brighter than her skin. She was also protesting Katsuki's comment. "You jerk, I'll bet I'm going to be twice the hero you are!"

"Man, in just a sentence I can already tell you've got the personality of a trashcan lit on fire." The boy next to the pink girl said, his hair was blond too, though an even darker shade than the boy with a tail. She briefly wondered why there was so many blond boys in the class. Katsuki, Tail boy, Shiny boy, and now this boy. Like the shiny boy, his hair parted on the right side of his head, unlike the shiny boy he'd done no real styling, letting it fall around his head naturally. He did have a black lightning bolt on the left bang though. "And not even new, odorless trash, old trash-ack!"

"Shut up, just ignore him." A fleshly looking headphone jack stabbing into his neck had interrupted him. Izuku's eyes followed to see it had come from the earlobe of a triangle eyed girl with short purple hair that had lavender streaks resembling a heartbeat on an EKG machine. Her bangs were asymmetrical, curving down lower on the left than the right. She also saw another headphone jack hanging down from her other earlobe, which she was twirling in her hand.

Further back, behind the girl with pink hair, Izuku saw a girl with wide eyes and a large mouth, tapping a finger against her lips as she looked back at Izuku. The girl had green hair like Izuku but a different shade and tied back into a large, bow-shaped braid. She seemed a bit more slouched over than the others and her hands were rather big, just as long as her own forearms. The girl seemed more focused on Izuku than Katsuki.

The seat next to her was empty, and across from it was a rather angry looking boy with short black hair and a plain face with almond shaped eyes. His elbows bulged a bit under his sleeves and his teeth seemed rather large as he bared them a bit at Katsuki. "Like hell, we'll prove we're just as good as you are, if not better!"  
In the row behind them was a large, peach-skinned boy with an uneven head that reminded her of a large rock, complete with a square jaw and wide, jagged mouth. He like the girl with the bow-shaped braid seemed more focused on her than Katsuki.

Next to him was a boy who was glaring at Katsuki with large dark red eyes. He had a large yellow beak with black feathers and a red neck, resembling a birds head. Forming from his body was a large shadow shaped version of himself, but with claw-like hands and a more curved beak.

Closest to the window in that row was Minoru, who was looking through some sort of book.

Behind them were only two boys, one she recognized to be Shoto Todoroki, Endeavors son. The other had spiky brown hair and full lips, as well as a rather round nose and muscular physique. He looked mad and was reaching for a small packet of sugar. "You think we'll just stand by and let you talk down at us, we'll show you just how wrong you are!"

Izuku turned to look at Katsuki as he started to laugh, then brought his hands up and slapped his left fist into his right hand, setting off a small explosion as he did. "Oh man, that response... good to know I can enjoy this class, it'd be boring if you all weren't fighting just as hard for first place!" He said, tilting his head and popping his neck. "If you're all going to be my classmates, you'd better be bringing everything you've got to the plate. That means two hundred percent effort, any less and I'll beat a better work ethic into you!"

"Hi, I'm Izuku Midoriya, it's a pleasure to meet you!" Izuku said, bowing forward and making the ribbons in her hair flop around. "I hope we all become amazing heroes together!"

"If you're just here to make friends, leave. This is the hero course, not some community meet and greet."

Izuku straightened up and turned her head to see Shota Aizawa laying on the ground in a bright yellow sleeping bag, drinking from a juice pouch as he stared up at them. She waved at Shota as he somehow maneuvered himself into a standing position before unzipping the sleeping. "Each and every one of you didn't notice me. That won't do, I wasn't even trying to be subtle. Here, put these on and head outside."

Shota stood with his hero costume and style, a black long-sleeved shirt tucked into his black pants, which in turn were tucked into boots that went halfway up his lower legs. He also had a utility belt and his signature scarf-type capture weapon, and his long black hair reached down to his shoulders, hiding his eyes. In one hand was his sleeping bag and in the other was a UA gym uniform, and from the way his sleeping bag was still rounded, she figured he had more. "Well... let's go."

The moment he said that Izuku felt her arms being grabbed. "Eh?" Izuku said before she found herself being dragged out of the door by Ochaco and Momo while the other girls walked with them. "Hey wait, what's going on, I didn't grab a uniform, stop, let me go!"

Katsuki sighed as he walked with Eijiro towards Shota and were handed uniforms. They headed out into the hall just in time to see the invisible girl and the pink girl, holding multiple uniforms, go into the girl's bathroom. "So... I've known you guys for nearly a week but I still don't know... are you two a couple?"

"No," Katsuki said as the two entered the men's bathroom and started changing into the uniforms they were given. He refrained from explaining that he wished he was that close to Izuku, but kept back from taking that first step. How exactly does one ask out a girl they'd convinced to jump off a building? "We're focusing more on our goals, becoming heroes."

Eijiro nodded as he pulled on the gym pants they'd been given as other boys in the class started to pour in. "Huh, and that thing when you literally burst into the classroom?"  
Katsuki knew Eijiro had waited on that question until there'd be people around them to overhear, a way of explaining himself without coming off as sorry.

"Izuku and I went to a middle school full of people with lame ass quirks and shit work ethics. I could walk in, show off my quirk, insult every one of them, and they'd kiss my boots to try and be my friend like parasites." He said, taking the chance, he wasn't sorry about what he did but knew explaining would help smooth things over with all the people he'd just rubbed the wrong way. "I wanted to see with my own eyes the people in UA are different, that they have at the very least the drive to push forward, the will to see an obstacle and give it the middle finger."

"Even the people with decent quirks, a girl who could turn her hands into fire, or the guy that could form wings from his back... they all sucked at trying to make use of the powers they were born with." He said as he pulled his shirt on. He didn't bother mentioning the latter was one of his peons for most of middle school and even elementary. "Then you've got me, I'm constantly pushing my power both to keep it in control and push the limits of how far I can take it... and then you've got Izuku, she didn't get her power young like me, she lived powerlessly, and yet she still pushed herself to the limit of what she could do and outdid the lot of them on a regular basis."

He didn't mention that he'd bullied her for that, he didn't mention that he'd taunted her to the brink and over it. It was a trait to be admired and he'd scorned her for it to try and force her to safety, he was just glad it wasn't gone. "When her quirk finally appeared, she didn't slow down, if anything she sped up, throwing herself into her training to a degree I hadn't even thought of attempting. I ended up modeling my training routine after hers and straining to keep up." He said. "... So again, no, I haven't asked her out, to see all the effort she's putting into becoming a hero, into being able to save hundreds of lives, and ask her to stop and shift her focus onto me?"

Onto the boy who'd attacked her, hurt her, ruined her life and drove her to feeling like death would be better than trying to be a hero.

"That'd just be insulting."

Katsuki finished putting on his gym clothes and looked over at Eijiro, who was openly crying along with Tenya and the plain-faced kid with large round elbows. Seeing them now he realized they looked like tape dispensers. "So manly, putting away your happiness so you don't distract the girl you love from her dreams!"

"Who the fuck said anything about love, idiot!?" Katsuki said, bringing his hand down on Eijiro's head and firing off his quirk. It was wasn't a powerful explosion, lots of flash and noise but not a lot of power. The result was him sending the ill-prepared Eijiro to the ground face first. There were a few snickers around him, and Katsuki ground his teeth, where the hell did all of that even come from? He just hoped Izuku was getting just as much shit from the girls of the class so she wouldn't bring even more strays into their misfit group of friends.

* * *

"Wow, you've got a tummy chiseled from marble!"

"Seriously, you could grind an ax on those abs!"

"How does she still have boobs with a body like that, so unfair..."

Izuku had barely gotten her shirt over her head when she realized the other girls in the class were staring at her stomach. She blushed bright red and finished pulling on her gym shirt only to feel hands on her bicep. "Jeez, talk about pumping iron, this feels harder than some of those bots from the exam." The pink girl said as she gave Izuku's arm a couple of experimental squeezes.

Izuku started to feel dizzy with all of the blood rushing to her face. At that point, Momo pulled the girl away from Izuku. "Why don't you relax, you could at least introduce yourself," Momo said with an amused smile as she put herself in between the girl and Izuku, whose arms had latched around Ochaco for safety. Ochaco started petting Izuku's head as the pink haired girl pouted for a moment before grinning.

"I'm Mina Ashido, sorry if I got a bit excited!" She said, rubbing the back of her neck. "It's just, we're here, UA's hero course!"

The girl with her hair braided in the shape of a bow nodded. "They didn't make it easy, those faux villains might not have been hard to beat but with everyone rushing to take down as many as possible there wasn't many to go after." She said, before pointing to herself. "I'm Tsuyu Asui, call me Tsuyu."

"I'm Toru Hagakure!" The invisible girl, now wearing a UA gym uniform. For a moment Izuku wondered if she was visible in light spectrums the human eye normally can't see, like infrared or ultraviolet. Was she pale from the light not touching her but instead going straight through, or that it went through and in a way touch all of her give her a deep, deep tan? "And yeah, it really was hard... I got lucky that the robots' sensors couldn't see me and just saw my clothes. They didn't attack me as a result so I was able to climb onto them and tear out their wiring without them attempting to stop me."

"I'm Kyoka Jiro. I can't say the machines were all that difficult to beat, they fell apart quickly enough once I jacked into them and let my heartbeat pulse through." The girl with the headphone jack earlobes said, one twisting around her index finger as she said it. Izuku slowly let go of Ochaco, getting a small pout from her before adding her two cents.

"The robots were pretty easy to beat, the missile silos on their backs exploded if you managed to impale the silos with a torn piece of another robot or just threw them hard enough... what?"

"You just... threw them around?"

"Parts of them, the one pointers armguards were easy to tear off and throw around, the missile silos were a bit harder..."

"So, super strength quirk?" Mina said, before forming a small handful of acid. "That's pretty cool, I can secrete various kinds of acid, depending on what kind of power or viscosity I want."

Izuku shook her head and pointed at her forehead, were her stitches from the first time she'd died were still in place. "Nope, I'm a zombie!"

"... Is this the part where we all die and start eating everyone in the school?" Toru said while the other three girls gaped at her.

Izuku shook her head and started waving her hands. "N-No, I can't turn people into zombies, and I don't eat people at all, I eat normal food like pork and yogurt!" She said while Ochaco put her arms around Izuku from behind and her chin on top of Izuku's head. "I promise!"

"... She's adorable, girls, we need to protect her from people like that jerk from earlier." Mina said, getting stiff nods from Tsuyu, Toru, and Kyoka. Izuku squirmed a bit as she turned red, feeling Ochaco's nod on top of her head.

"Kacchans not that bad..." Izuku said, getting the girls to stop planning out how to protect her and look over at her.

"Oh god, he's already corrupted her."

"Kacchan's a little mean at times, and he isn't all that big on strangers, but he really wants to be a hero and just doesn't like it when people claim they want to be a hero when they don't have what it takes..." She said, relaxing a bit. "He used to be really mean, treating everyone like stepping stones but after my quirk activated he started being a bit nicer, he still doesn't like people with weak quirks or people who don't push themselves as hard as they could."

"He makes little rivalries with everyone he meets to try and push them, to push himself. He works out really hard and he always tries to make sure when we're lifting weights, or running, or doing other exercises that we're not going overboard or putting ourselves in actual danger." She said, looking up at the other girls. "When he's not training physically he's studying to keep his grades up and studying his quirk to see what else he can do with it aside from fly around or use it as a weapon."

Izuku bowed her head to the girls. "So please don't think of him too harshly, he's still learning how to be a hero!"

Mina, Tsuyu, and Kyoka looked confused before one of Toru's sleeves moved. "I get it, he's her project, she's making him into a proper boy first!"

"Ribbit… that makes sense."

"Eh?"

Momo's eyes sparkled as Ochaco nodded rapidly. "Exactly!" Momo said.

* * *

Katsuki felt like hitting something for some reason, guessing it was Izuku's fault he checked his gym uniform to make sure he hadn't put anything on wrong before walking out of the bathroom to head outside. If they were putting on study clothes like this they would probably be using their quirks, better he punch a bag than a person.

"Hey, Katsuki, wait up!" Eijiro said, along with the tape elbowed boy, who'd introduced himself as Sero, and the boy with the black lightning bolt on his bangs, who said his name was Denki. He scoffed and kept walking, they could either keep up or stand back. "Any plans after school?"

"If I heard right on the way here Izuku's mother was speaking with mine about a first-day celebration dinner at the dorms, I ain't missing it and what the hell, might as well invite you now cause she'll probably invite you later."

Sero grinned along with Denki, though Eijiro just nodded with a stern look on his face. He knew the challenge that was being put before him, he just hoped his taste buds were prepared for the trial by fire that was Midoriya family cooking. He wouldn't warn the others, not yet, he'd explain once the food came out and if they stepped up to the plate they were good, if not...

Well, one less contestant for in the battle for Izuku.

Eijiro knew there was going to be a battle for her, Tetsutetsu, Hitoshi, Katsuki, they all liked her and she somehow didn't notice just how much. He could even admit a part of him sometimes wondered what a date with her would be like, what a hug would be like or her lips on his cheek after he brought her home. But after what Katsuki said he couldn't help but agree with him, with how determined she is to be a hero, to grow into the hero lifestyle... would it be right to ask her out?

Not unless he was giving the same one hundred and fifty percent she gives, not unless he was sure it wasn't slowing her down. He'd have to come up with dates that doubled as training, find restaurants that served the right kind of food to help heroes recuperate after a hard days training.

As the group passed the girls bathroom it opened up, the girls joining them in the walk out to the area Shota wanted them to all meet up at. Izuku had walked up to Eijiro, who introduced her to Denki and Sero while Momo walked up to Katsuki. "Anyone amongst the boys we should be wary of?" Momo said

"Other than the grape perv? Not that I've seen yet, any amongst the girls?"

"They're all for keeping her safe from jerks like you. Izuku actually had to defend you so they wouldn't think you were a jerk."

Katsuki snorted in amusement. "Did you let them know she's naive as hell and I am in fact a damn asshole?"

Momo smirked and Katsuki felt like hitting something again. He narrowed his eyes at her, just what did she say about him? "They figured it out for themselves, though I don't think they'll give you too much trouble about it." She said, smirking at him with amused eyes as they came to the doors to the gym yard.

Katsuki rolled his eyes and pushed the doors open, finding their homeroom teacher waiting for them with what looked like a softball in hand. Tossing it up and down as the class passed through the doors and waited for his instructions. "About time, if it's always going to take this long for the lot of you to change clothes... well, let's not get into that. We'll be starting off with a quirk assessment exam." Shota said, getting a shout of surprise from most of the class.

"But, orientation, we're going to miss it?" Ochaco said, to which Shota rolled his eyes, how many times had he heard that damn line. Why did Nezu even have an orientation... oh, right, the general studies, support, and business courses...

"If you really want to make the big leagues you can't waste time on pointless ceremonies," Shota said, shutting up the entire class. He then sighed and tossed the softball in his hand to Izuku, who caught the ball and looked at him. "Here at UA, we're not tethered to tradition, that means I can run my class however I see fit. Most of you have been taking standardized tests but those don't allow you to use your quirk."

"It's illogical, an attempt by the board of education to help people feel equal and not letting people with advanced abilities excel." He said, before looking over at Izuku. The green haired zombie girl gulped, this wasn't the Shota Aizawa they'd had dinner with, this was Eraserhead, the underground hero. "Izuku, you had the highest score in the entrance exam, prior to your quirks activation and its effects on your physical training how far could you throw a softball?"

"I'm not sure... maybe thirty meters?"

"The current record for a throw without the use of a quirk or its effects is just over one hundred and thirty meters. Give that ball a throw and put all you've got behind it, just don't leave the circle." He said, and Izuku jogged up to the pitch. She looked at the ball in her hands, holding it in her fingertips. She turned and started to wind up for the pitch, then took a step forward and put her entire body into the throw, releasing the ball just as her arm became parallel with her head. The ball shot into the air faster than most of the students could follow.

Shota looked at his phone, which had an app attached to the tracker in the ball, once the number stopped going up he held it out for the class to see.

"S-six hundred seventy-three meters!?" Izuku said, surprised by her own throw. She hadn't really done ball throws as part of her work out or her follow up testing to see how much each work out helped her improve.

"This is going to be so much fun!"

"This is what I'm talking about, using our quirks all we want, hell yeah!"

"Fun, you think the hero course is about having fun? Being a hero isn't about having fun, so how about we change things up a bit to make that clear." Shota said as he slid his hand over his forehead, pulling his bangs up and out of his face so the students could clearly see his eyes, as well as a somewhat cruel grin. "We have ten more exams to go through, each of them will be scored and the student with the lowest score can hand back the uniform they're wearing, because they'll be judged to have no potential as a hero, and thus expelled then and there."

"B-But it's only the first day, how is that fair!?"

"It's not, which makes it the perfect rule for a test regarding would be heroes." Shota said in response to Ochaco's question. He raised a hand and started drawing a circle towards the sky. "Natural Disasters, Villains, Murphy's Law, do you think the things a hero has to deal with comes anywhere near the realm of 'fair'? No, life's not fair, heroes have to be able to shoulder that and come out on top for everyone's sake."

"The Quirk Apprehension Exam starts now. You better go Plus Ultra, or I'll kick you out of here before the scores are even tallied up."  
Izuku gulped, she had a feeling he was being serious about his comments.

First he led them to a small indoor examination area. "First up, Fifty Yard Dash. Izuku Midoriya, Tenya Iida, how about you two set the bar." Shota said, Tenya had a quirk that had been shown to affect his speed in the entrance exam footage, and Izuku held the highest score.

Izuku and Tenya nodded before taking position at one end of the track. Tenya let his quirk, Engine, warm up a bit before the building's system played the sound of a starting gun. Both took off in a burst of sand, Izuku initially taking the lead before Tenya passed by her halfway through the run.

"3.04 Seconds. 3.68 Seconds."

 _'She… she managed a similar time, I might have only reached third gear with that distance but still'_ Tenya thought to himself as he gaped at the scores. "How?"

"Hmm? I run every day, my legs don't really get tired so I focus on pushing myself to go faster rather than try to increase how long I can run... since I can run until my muscles are torn to the point of non-function."

Tenya's eyes widened as the pieces clicked. _'I train for endurance so my engines can last longer rather than training to increase my running speed, as my quirk already puts me at the upper limit of a human beings top speed and past it... she doesn't need to worry about how long she'll last, so she only does speed drills.'_

"Looks like three to three and some change is the speed to beat. Next pair, Tsuyu and Ochaco."

Izuku watched as Ochaco reduced the weight on her clothes before she dropped down, putting her feet on the blocks and her hands on the ground. Tsuyu took the same stance but seems to bend her legs a bit more. The sound of a starting gun played again and Ochaco broke into a run while Tsuyu leaped forward like a frog.

"Four point nine seven Seconds. Seven point one five Seconds!"

She needed to take Ochaco out on a morning run or two once they all moved into the dorms... if they moved into the dorms.

As each pair of students came up to the fifty-meter dash lane Izuku listened more for their names than their times. The one with multiple arms, which actually turned out to be tentacles as they lacked hands or elbows, was Mezo Shoji. The one with the brown spiky hair and muscular build was Sato Rikido. The blond with the shiny eyes and hair was Yuga Aoyama while the blond with the black lightning bolt dyed into his bangs was Denki Kaminari. The one with the rock shaped head who kept stealing glances at her was Koji Koda, while the boy with black hair and large elbows that acted like tape dispensers was Sero Hanta. Finally, the boy with the tail was Mashiro Ojiro and the bird-headed boy was Fumikage Tokoyami.

The next test was grip strength, rather than take turns everyone got a grip meter. She watched as the other students did their best, with Sato, Mezo, and Mashiro being the best of her classmates. Mezo reached over five hundred kilograms while Sato and Mashiro reached the one hundred range. She then gave her grip test a squeeze, she knew she'd at the very least be able to match her weight. To use her hands and fingers as grappling hooks she'd need to be able to, quite literally, hold her own weight..

"Two hundred and fifty-six Kilograms."

"With just one hand!?"

Shota laughed internally at the surprise most of his class showed, she'd been in the UA dorms for nearly ten months so occasionally Nezu would put him in charge of watching over her from a distance. He'd seen her work out routines as a result, she showed a dedication to being a good hero he didn't see often amongst actual heroes, let alone students. Though he might have to warn her about giving firm handshakes, a grip like that would be more than enough for her to squeeze a persons arm hard enough to tear apart flesh. Or he could teach her to be careful by having Nezu convince Endeavor making nice with Izuku would be a good publicity stunt.

Oh he could already see the photos of Izuku's crushing Endeavors large hand in her little fingers, it wouldn't be the most heroic thing to do but god would it feel good. If Shoto's psychological profile was anything to go by he'd be able to help set it up... plans for later, for now he needed to light a fire under these kids asses. "You know, just because she hasn't managed first place yet doesn't mean any of you can slack off, sure second place isn't first but keep in mind a hero needs to be able to do anything to save others, and she's doing everything better than most of you so far." He said, making all of them look at him as he put on a more menacing expression. "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one. I shouldn't have to explain how important it is for heroes, in training or pro, to keep that phrase in mind."

That should do the trick.

Katsuki approved of his new teacher, by singling Izuku out not only did he realize just how good Izuku was but he also put a barrier between her and the others of the class, which would mean no more strays joining in their little group. At least that's what he hoped would happen, it was also possible they would all attempt to latch onto her like leeches. If that happened well, he had explosions and Ochaco could negate a persons gravity... how did that one line go...

Oh right, Bang, Zoom, Straight to the moon. The next exam was for a standing long jump, which Izuku did well in but with her quirk not literally pushing her through the air the most she could manage was eight meters. He was able to outdo that, as was the frog girl Tsuyu, Momo, Ochaco, the laser idiot Yuga, and the bird boy Fumikage. Still he would give the grape headed midget Minoru credit, the kid setting up a line of balls to bounce off of to extend his jump might have worked but he failed to hit the first one at the right angle and couldn't set a new ball in time.

"She's really something, to do a jump like that without a quirk built for jumps..." Sato said, rubbing a bit of exhaustion from his eyes. Next to him was Koji, who was nodding in agreement while Sero rubbed his chin in thought.

"No kidding, and after the speed and grip tests too... she must have some sort of super strength quirk..." Sero said as Denki walked up to the trio.

Katsuki realized they thought Izuku was empowering herself temporarily just in time for the tests. He decided to rectify that and walked up to them before Denki could add his two cents. "You're all wrong, that's not some sort of boost to her power, that's all from her training regiment." He said, grinning as Izuku spoke with Ochaco about their scores. Izuku was trying to give the round-faced girl tips and ideas. "That's the result of someone who's dedicated their everything to being a hero."

"How the hell are we supposed to keep up with that?!" Denki said, gesturing both hands to Izuku. Katsuki just barked out a laugh and shook his head while they all looked at him with curious faces. They really didn't get it, even after the teacher flat out told them what to do? Well, guess he'd better help spell it out for them, he is trying to be a better person after all.

"You could start by giving it your all, regardless of the situation, like she does. That's what UA is all about, going Plus Ultra." He said before walking away, cracking his knuckles and popping his neck in anticipation for the next test.

"Alright, next exam, everyone move to the sustained sideways jump lines and get started."

* * *

"Start!"

Himiko grinned as the lights in the small warehouse went out, she was dressed in a beige morph suit with two syringes strapped to her forearms. The needles of the syringes were wide but retracted back into the syringes, and a set of tubes led up her arms and to a small device strapped to the small of her back, which in turn had a tube leading down to her right thigh, where the tube plugged into a dial that led to multiple vials. She licked her lips as she heard the villains she was being set up against come into the building. After hearing that UA sets up a little exam before they officially let in students Tomura had decided to have a little exam for his army, pit against each other it was a literal do or die exam.

Soon the villains got onto a fight, and Himiko had to hold back from giggling, she could already tell which members of the group were actually dangerous and which ones had inflated egos. The capable villains broke off from idiots and she moved to follow them, waiting until just the right moment to attack. She knew Tomura wanted good villains, but no-one was actually watching these trials, they just stood outside and waited for the survivors to come back with the civilian they'd kidnapped to be their 'target'. She was the guard, they were the kidnappers, Tomura wanted people who could bring him Izuku.

She'd make sure they only had the most worthless idiots assigned to the task.

False information, careful selection, Izuku would be more than able to avoid capture and or protect herself until the sheer numbers became a problem, then Toga would be able to save the day and run off with Izuku in her hands. No-one would ever find them, and they'd never need to be found because they had each other. As the villains reached a doorway at the end of a catwalk she dropped down from the ceiling beams, landing right behind one and punching him in the back, causing one of the syringes to launch its needle forward. It drove through the villain's spine as she held out the other syringe, the needle extended before the entire thing shot forward, impaling the door and letting her pull it shut before the other villain could react. Another pull ripped the syringe from the door and back to its position on her forearm while the device on her back started to suck the blood from her prey and put it in the vial the dial was set to.

As the other villain started to turn the knob she covered her preys mouth leaned them both over the railing, then kicked off of his back to catch back onto the railing and lower herself to the edge of the walkway. The villain looked over the railing to see if she could catch Himiko and take her down but would be surprised when Himiko climbed the underside of the catwalk and drove her syringes into the villain's lungs before shoving her over the railing. She grinned as she heard the two hit the ground and moved towards the survivors, a pair of idiots who thought the best plan was to just scour the area rather than look for a good vantage point to find the target.

The two were clueless, just bashing through walls and rooms to try and find the target. She let out a whimper and then moved, watching as the two suddenly rushed to where she was and made a lot of noise. She then looked over at the room the target was currently hiding in and threw her voice. "Jerks!"

Predictable idiots were predictable and they both rushed at the room and burst into it, getting the target to scream before they started dragging her out of the room. Now was part two of the exam. She had said Izuku had a very simple but useful quirk, a quirk that enhanced her jaw muscles. She was sure it was something else, after all, Izuku had been cut across the throat and lived. Tomura didn't need to know that though, so the target they'd picked out was a girl with a Gila monster quirk. She soon proved just grabbing her was a bad idea and clamped her jaws around the arm of one of the idiots.

Himiko intervened, jumping in and driving her needles into the shoulders of the one the girl had bit into. The girl let go and started running away, making the other villain run after her while Himiko started using her syringes to repeatedly stab the idiot, slowly killing him and filling her vials. The villain collapsed to his feet and Himiko ran after the last villain alive taking the exam, who had grabbed the girl by the neck and was both strangling her and dragging her to the entrance of the warehouse. Himiko ran slowly on purpose, and the villain passed the exam. She had a feeling Izuku would have no trouble with the jerk, and she took the sad little girl back into the warehouse for the next set of villains to try and kidnap.

Each group would only have a few survivors at most, and each survivor would be one of the worst but decent enough to get away with it. When they went after Izuku, they'd make the perfect mod of idiots to protect her from.

Himiko couldn't wait to see Izuku's bleeding face smiling at her as she caressed it with the edge of a knife.

* * *

"Infinity!?"

Izuku clapped for Ochaco as most of the class gaped at the girl, not having known what her quirk was until now. That put her in third place for the softball pitch, right behind Katsuki while Ochaco was in first place. She'd managed second during the sustained sideways jumps behind Minoru, who had set up a pile of his quirks spheres on either side and bounced between them, Shota said his lack of effort in the actual action gave it a higher score than hers, which required she actually do the jumps and in turn use her muscles. While she wouldn't get tired there was still a conscious action for each jump, Minoru could set things up to make one jump into a hundred. She didn't argue, she didn't want anyone expelled and hoped that if even the lowest scoring student was shown as capable her new teacher wouldn't expel them.

So she tried to help her fellow students, as they went through the exams. The following tests were mostly normal, sit-ups, toe touches, and a long distance running test. She scored first for sit-ups, second to Mezo for toe touches, and third Tenya and Katsuki in the long distance run. In the end, Minoru had scored in last place, and she could hear him starting to cry when Shota showed them the scores.

"By the way... the expulsion thing was a lie," Shota said as he turned off the hologram that was showing them all their scores. The looks on their faces were priceless, made being a teacher worth it. True the lie was that he would have expelled them if they thought themselves good enough to half-ass it or worse, actually couldn't manage a decent score rather than just by being in last place, but they didn't need to know that. He grinned and tried to set his expression to as mocking and mischievous as he could get. "It was just a logical ruse to make sure each of you did your best."

"I'm surprised the rest of you didn't figure that out already, I'm sorry I should have said something," Momo said, and Shota gave her a bit of a stink eye. She thought he'd been lying about the expulsion huh... not much he can do about it now, maybe he could rig a few tests on her or something. By the time of the sports festival, he should have a good idea of what to do. Though given the look she was getting he might not have to do anything.

"Anyway, that's all for the day, grab your syllabuses from the classroom and read it over before tomorrow morning. On top of that, there are a few forms for your parents to go over with you regarding our dorm facilities, make sure to have an answer for the principal about whether or not you'll be using them by the end of the month."

"Come on, you're probably starving by now, let's grab our syllabuses and get home before you bite someone's face off," Katsuki said as he grabbed Izuku's arm and started dragging her back inside. Ochaco and Tenya chased after them while Momo shook her head and Eijiro laughed.

"H-Hey, wait, let go of my arm Kacchan, what's with everyone dragging me around today!"

"Are we sure those two aren't dating?" Sero said, getting a few members of the class to chuckle before they followed behind them, save for Shoto who just watched as Katsuki led Izuku into the school building.

An image flashed in his mind, of his father dragging his mother out of the dojo while he laid on the ground, too hurt from training and too scared of his father to move, the sounds of flesh against flesh, flesh against wood, of screams of pain and roars of anger. He narrowed his eyes and walked after them, he wouldn't let what happened to his mother happen to anyone else.

"Alright, so we have general education during our pre-lunch periods, and heroes post-lunch," Katsuki said as he and Izuku looked over the syllabuses together, Momo and Tenya standing across from them nodding as they saw the same information on their syllabuses. Izuku was happy to note that literally, every class had a hero teaching it. She'd have to bring her signature notebook tomorrow. "Present Mic will also be teaching the English language during those early periods, so if any of us get posted to North America or Europe we'll know the trade language. We'll probably learn other trade languages during the other two semesters."

Izuku nodded. "Due to the short stint All-Might spent in the United States UA often gets foreign exchange students from those areas, so we'll probably meet a few." She said as Ochaco read over her shoulder. Ochaco would then look at her own to make sure all of the information matched up, she didn't want to leave Izuku alone even in UA, Katsuki had made it clear how he had to actively keep freaks from befriending Izuku in their old school. Thankfully it seemed like all of their classes were the same. "We'll also have Art history with Nemuri Kayama... that might get awkward."

Tenya looked up from his syllabus at Izuku while Katsuki stared at the matching information in his syllabus and blushed red. "Why would it be awkward, do you know who that is?"

"Yeah, she's the Eighteen or older only, R-Rated Hero Midnight, she sometimes visits the dorms when we're working out. She also likes to give me rabbit themed stuff, like a hairband with rabbit ears, or that skirt with the cottontail just below the waistline." Izuku said, causing Katsuki, Tenya, and Ochaco to blush while Momo just palmed her face. Eijiro walked up the group with his syllabus in hand, looking over it. "And then there was that time she shoved a carrot in my mouth to make me stop talking, I might have started asking too many questions about her quirk..."

Eijiro stopped short while Ochaco slowly started floating up to the ceiling with her hands hiding her face and Tenya started fiddling with his glasses while blushing bright red. Katsuki, on the other hand, gripped his syllabus a bit hard as his quirk went off, destroying the small stack of papers. Momo just put her syllabus down and held her head in her hands, silently wondering why she hadn't thought of that before, Izuku would be adorable in a rabbit onesie.

"Ah, why did you do that, what if our classes are different, you'll get in trouble!" Izuku said as she looked at the scorched remains of the syllabus while Shoto watched from the other side of the classroom. Tapping a finger against his desk while he watched, he decided he didn't like Katsuki Bakugo, Izuku seemed to be a nice girl, innocent, pure. Like his mother before his father drove her to madness. He reached up and touched the scar around his left eye, the burn mark that his mother had scalded into his face in a brief moment of insanity. He didn't want to see another kind person broken like that, he wouldn't let it happen again but at the same time he knew, he knew he had to be subtle, careful.

He didn't want to accidentally push her into his arms, he needed to give her an escape and then lead her to it. Show her freedom is possible so she'd have the courage to stand against it. He had three years, he'd have to make them count. The first step was obvious, he had to become a friend to the group so they wouldn't argue with his being there. Shoto looked at Momo for a bit, both of them had been brought into the school by recommendation, as had Katsuki. If he made contact with her she would bring him into the group of friends, Izuku seemed like the sort to accept that as enough of a reason to befriend him and Katsuki would accept him as a rival, unaware of his true intention.

Soon the bell rang to signal they were all to go home, and he made his way to where his father would likely have someone waiting to pick him up. He was sure he could convince his father that staying at the UA dorms would he best for him, but he needed a plan. Once he was nearby, he could move it and from there he could begin his first rescue.

Izuku, Katsuki, and Momo walked Ochaco, Tenya, and Eijiro to the school gates before heading back to the dorms. "I'm glad no-one got expelled," Izuku said as they moved through the facilities towards the dorm building. Katsuki scoffed at the thought, he guessed it was a good thing, if only because it meant he was surrounded by more rivals to beat. "I feel really hungry, do you think our parents bought pork?"

"Probably, why, hoping to turn a pig into a skeleton in record time?"

Izuku turned her head just in time to see Osore running towards her, Tetsutetsu and Hitoshi walking towards them. Osore hugged Izuku around her stomach and received a pat on the head while Hitoshi waved at the group. Katsuki turned away from them and scoffed while Momo waved back at them. "Hello, how did your day go?"

Hitoshi shrugged while Tetsutetsu scratched at his chin. "Class 1-B is pretty cool, there's one guy to look out for though, took our teachers words about beating 1-A a bit too seriously.. We'll explain further at the meeting," Tetsutetsu said, getting a nod from Momo while Izuku interacted with Osore, the latter miming the various things that happened in class while Izuku explained all the different quirks she'd seen in her own class. "Our teacher had us show off our quirks after orientation, how about you?"

"He had us skip orientation so he could have us take standardized physical exams, but with our quirks," Katsuki said, hands in his pockets as they entered the dorm building.

"Pretended he would expel the lowest scoring student... So we still have the grape head."

Hitoshi shrugged. "Honestly he's been getting better, have you noticed that book he reads nowadays? I took a look at the title and searched for it, it's a book of tips written to help people with difficulty keeping their thoughts to themselves." Hitoshi said, waving his hand a bit as he spoke while the others kept their eyes on him. "I don't think I'd call it a self-help book as much as a guide for the hopelessly dirty minded on how to lock away the filth."

Momo nodded. "He's been sneaking fewer glances at Izuku from what I can tell, and didn't perv on any of our classmates, instead returning to his book when there was an opening. He could have been reading a mantra from it to keep in control." She said as she looked back at the boy's antics throughout the tests. Such as when Mina had landed wrong and ended up falling on her tailbone. The girl had complained that she'd hurt her backside and rather than stare at it he'd opened his book and started reading something out of his book. "I actually started to feel comfortable around him... granted it's hard for me to get embarrassed so I'm not sure how the other girls felt."

Izuku watched as Osore tried to explain Hitoshi's quirk reveal, making a mocking face with wide eyes, then a blank face while doing the robot. Hitoshi grinned when Izuku looked at him. "There's a guy in our class who can copy quirks, gets a bit competitive with people." He said while pretending to have difficulty recalling what he did to the boy. Katsuki noted the competitive streak and Tetsutetsus comment about someone to look out for trying to beat them. Hitoshi must have decided to fire a warning shot. "I think I caught him in my quirk and made him do the robot right up in front of the teacher. I was politely asked by the teacher to not do it again... when he stopped laughing."

Katsuki grinned while Izuku broke into giggles at the thought of Vlad King busting into laughter and yelling for someone to stop. As they reached the doors to the dorm building they saw Roy, Tsubame, and Minoru waiting for them. Izuku waved at the three and Roy and Tsubame waved normally while Minoru waved with a bit of hesitation, his book under his arm. "Minoru, I'm glad you didn't get expelled, I know you've been working hard too!" Izuku said while the rest of her friends tensed.

 _'Damn, Izuku's initiating contact with a pervert.'_ Katsuki thought as Hitoshi leaned his head to the left and rolled his right shoulder with his left hand over it. One turn, two, then let his armrest, R-2-Down. Katsuki hated that plan but with Izuku having been the starting point he'd admit that was the best one, just had to play it cool for now.  
Minoru looked up at the green haired girl with the stitches over her forehead and jawline.

 _'Oh man, am I ready for this?'_ He thought to himself as his mind flashed the various pages of the book he'd been reading, trying to find the right words. "Y-Yeah, thanks... I was kind of worried, but you were amazing!" He said as his mind flashed to page four hundred and ninety-three, start with complimenting ability, not body. She smiled at him and he mentally patted himself on the back, a girl was smiling at him, a monster girl no less, it was like the beginning of a dream come true. "I just need to find a way to keep up, I won't let you leave us in the dust, I'm going to be a cool hero too!"

Izuku nodded at the grape headed boy, pumping her fist with a little hop. "That's the spirit, let's show all of Japan that We are here, Plus Ultra!"

Minoru stiffened at the sight of Izuku jumping up, parts of her moving in response, too much, too much! He opened his book and went to page five, where a small mantra was written down, reading it over and over again as he tried to cool down from that wonderful display of the laws of physics. Osore palmed her face as Katsuki moved forward and Hitoshi flanked him. Momo waited for three steps before she started to walk forward as well, Tetsutetsu walking forward after she'd taken a single step. "Come on Izuku, you don't want to let the pork get cold do you?" Katsuki said as he threw an arm over her shoulders, guiding her away while Minoru read his book. Thankfully they hadn't had to actually use the plan. "Come on grape head, long face, big ass, you've earned a big dinner too, we all have."

Minoru looked up at Katsuki's back as the blond led Izuku through the doors to their building, surprised he hadn't taken a hit yet... the book was working, it was really working! "D-Did you guys see that!? A girl smiled at me, a girl smiled at me of all people!" He said as Roy and Tsubame chuckled, after the events of the clinic and then being moved to the dorms, they'd formed something of a friendship with the small pervert who wasn't afraid to be himself around people with ugly quirks like theirs. "I didn't even stare at her amazingly toned legs and hips!"

The two sighed as Minoru realized what he'd just said and palmed his face before diving back into his book.


	14. The Battle Trial, Part 1

_Welcome to UA Arc, Part 3 : The Battle Trial, Part 1._

* * *

 **"I am... coming through the door like a normal person!"** All-Might said, holding the doorframe and leaning into 1-A's homeroom. Izuku pumped a fist up and cheered along with her other classmates as All-Might stepped into the room and did a slow march to the desk.

"Wow, his Silver Age costume from before he became the Symbol of Peace, it's really rare to see merchandise with that costume on it so to see it in person is extra amazing!" Izuku said, muffled but still clear while Katsuki leaned back, his elbows on Izuku's desk. He then tilted his head to the side so he had an ear towards her.

"Something special about it?"

Izuku nodded. "All-Mights Symbol of Peace costume was made as an amalgamation of his previous costumes, mostly his American Way costume and his Silver Age costume, taking the American color scheme and brightening it while using his Silver Age costumes gloves, belt, and boots. He also keeps the white sides from the American Way costume but focuses the Symbol of his costume on his entire upper body like the Silver Age rather than just at his pectoral muscles." She said, causing most of the class and All-Might himself to stare at her. "Combined with his increased muscle mass by the time he became the Symbol of Peace as opposed to his activities in America so the American Way costume fell to the wayside in marketing because they couldn't use the same figurine molds, eventually the same thing happened to his Silver Age merchandise. A still packaged edition of All-Might in either costume can be worth a small fortune!"

She looked around and saw that she was being stared at by everyone with varying amounts of surprise. "... What?"

"... Wow, it has been way too long since I heard you go into an information spree, I forgot you do that." Katsuki said as he lifted himself from his chair and looked at All-Might. He briefly wondered why the hero was using an old suit. If Izuku was right, and she usually was about this sort of thing, All-Might's physique should be too large for him to wear his Silver Age gear, so why did it look like it was perfectly fitted? "Hm."

"... Do you think we can get her to do it again if we asked one of the other teachers to show up in an old costume?"

"The only one I know that even _has_ an older costume is Midnight, and I don't think that'd be a good idea."

 **"Anyway! I'll be in charge of making each and every one of you into heroes with Hero Foundational Studies!"** All-Might said, using his boisterous personality to try and regain control of the class. They all focused on him as he dug into his belt for the Battle Card he'd brought. 'I should probably see if I can rush getting my Symbol of Peace outfit refitted to my now smaller size, if she'd gone on much longer I'm sure they'd all be asking questions.'

 **"And Today's course will be all about This!"** He said, flashing the card to the class. **"Combat Training!"**

Katsuki's eyes went wide as he grinned, clenching his fists shut to try and keep his quirk under control. This, this was he'd been waiting for, a chance to show everyone what a true hero looked like, by getting right up in their faces and blasting them all away. Not to mention if any of them were getting ideas about Izuku, this would be the moment he showed them just how much it would hurt to try.

He'd make this trial one for the history books.

Izuku could barely contain her excitement, to be able to confront and learn about her classmates' quirks and their combat applications, as well as see just how far her training taking her. She started running scenarios in her head, how would she respond to Kyoka's ear jacks, to Ochaco's Zero Gravity, would she get to bring a knife to use her muscle strings... probably not.

Still, she could hardly wait!

Shoto's eyes flicked over to Katsuki, his right side getting colder and his left getting warmer, a chance to fight him would prove helpful to his plans. It had been an effort to convince his father to allow him to live in UA's dorms, compromises had to be made. His weekends would be filled with training sessions both to make up for the lack of daily sessions as well as make sure he didn't slack off.

He'd save her, no matter what.

Minoru froze up in his seat, battle trials meant fighting, fighting meant body movement, body movement meant certain parts of the body would move. His hands tightened around his trusty book, he had to be able to fight regardless if he was to be a hero. Hell, he'd have to encourage movement so people would fall into his quirk and or get tired enough that striking them directly would be easy.

He couldn't falter here, no way!

 **"That's right, you'll be learning to fight like heroes, and that means..."** All-Might said as he whipped out a remote and pressed a button. When he did a part of the wall opened up and a set of drawers slid from the wall. Izuku squealed as All-Might finished his sentence. **"Costumes! All made per the specifications you gave in your application to the hero course! Get changed and see me at Training Ground Beta!"**

Izuku rushed over to the drawers and pulled open the drawer with her seat number on it. Inside was a box, which she pulled open, squealed again, and ran out of the classroom with the box in hand. "Hey, Momo, did you ever get a look at the outfit idea Izuku turned in?" Katsuki asked as he walked up to his drawer, pulling it open to find a box as well as two large, grenade shaped bracers. Momo shook her head as she opened her own drawer, finding a large book, a belt with a shelf and strap on it, and a box of her own. "Well, shit, this might get disturbing... you don't think Mei would have gotten to look at the plans, do you?"

Momo blinked and then paled as memories of Izuku casually cutting herself apart to reach high shelves in the kitchen and once in the library flashed in her mind. "I... uh... should probably go after her." She said as she got her costume equipment and ran out of the classroom while Katsuki palmed his face.

Meanwhile, Minoru looked in the box that was in his drawer and grinned for a bit, before his face paled.

"There goes my healthy 'I ate a big breakfast' one liner..."

"Huh, they get something wrong midget?" Katsuki said before looking in Minoru's box, then blinking before giving the object in question a mild glare. "What... the actual fuck?"

"... It was supposed to be a belt."

"Supposed to be a... what weird ass shit eating fuck face was given the job to work your costume?!"

"I don't know!"

"Who the hell did these people go to for our costumes and shit!?" Katsuki said while a depressed rain cloud formed over Minorus head. "Should I be worried where my gloves have been damn it!?"

All-Might just laughed as the rest of the class got their costumes. Shoto took a moment to look at his hero outfit and nodded at the appearance and feel of the material. This exam would be the first step to getting their attention, once he had that he'd become their friend, and from there he'd save her from a life of misery, from a downward spiral into madness. He clenched his hands around the box as he thought about different ways to make his power known without coming off as too powerful. Katsuki needed to think of his as a rival, not an obstacle, for him to get close.

* * *

Izuku went up to her locker in the changing room connected to the entrance to Training Ground Beta and started to turn the dial on her locker, 13, 0, 7.

Once it was open she pulled off her school uniform, leaving herself in a forest green sports bra and boy shorts. Stuffing her clothes in the locker she grabbed the box and flung it open, the lid flying across the room. On top of her outfit was a smaller box with a note.

 **Izuku Midoriya.**

 **While we were able to get the equipment you asked for made, the support company involved did require a great deal of explanation, as such if you need any upgrades just come to me after filing the right paperwork with Nezu, so we can avoid dealing with idiots. As for Mei Hatsume, she'll be involved at my discretion, depending on the difficulty of your requests.**

 **Power Loader.**

Izuku grinned widely as Momo and Ochaco walked up behind her, looking at the note, Momo looked at the small box in scared resignation while Ochaco looked at the outfit underneath it, her eyes sparkling at the appearance before she opened her own box to find her costume.

* * *

Katsuki tied his eye mask into place and put a hook earbud over his left ear. His costume, thankfully, didn't seem to be made by the same people as Minoru's, who was already fully costumed and writing a request to the support class teacher, Power Loader, to fix his 'belt'.

He'd been able to send some revision notes to the school, who in turn sent them to the support company before school had started in order to add a few changes to his outfit. First was his shirt, a black, sleeveless, v-neck tank top didn't have the orange x shape, but instead an orange, x shaped bandolier with a few first aid kit necessities like painkillers, ace bandages, antibiotic gels. He'd also decided to upgrade the kneepads he wanted into full greaves, guarding his knees, lower legs, and upper part of the foot. There were small tanks built into the back of the leg guards that he could use to store sweat and blast people with his knees and feet.

His grenadier bracers were about the same, matching the shape of a grenade but with an elongated safety trigger, which he could use as a weapon during an elbow strike. The top of the grenade opened to reveal his knuckles and hand while still covering the back of his hand, allowing him to grab and hold things while still giving his backhand something nice and hard to wreck villains with. Finally, each grenadier bracer had a safety pin that, when pulled, would start squirting the sweat stored in them, which he could ignite for a large blast without risk of overheating and burning his hands, which would hamper sweat production if he damaged his pores. Arm warmers were the finishing touch of the bracers, moving up to his biceps to keep his arms and hands as warm as possible to induce sweating.

Finally, a thick, loose pair of rugged pants that could keep up with his movement, held up by a belt with grenades housing small amounts of his sweat in the even he needed a small explosion or a friend had a good angle to blast from but he didn't. Wearing the outfit made him feel... powerful, more so than he had when he was pushing the idiots in his middle school around. 'With this, I can keep people safe, I can keep her safe.' He thought to himself as he waited for the other students to come out of the changing rooms so they could head into the training ground.

"Damn, you look badass dude!" Eijiro said, and Katsuki looked at his friend's outfit, two red shoulder pads shaped like gears with a matching open front, knee length skirt with a torn design over black pants, held up with a belt that had a red R on the buckle. Said pants were tucked into a pair of reddish-brown boots with straps instead of laces. To top it all off, a jaw guard that extended over the sides of his neck and looped over his nose, and then again over his bangs which stuck up into the air anyway. The four fangs extending towards his cheeks completed the look, giving him an oni-like appearance. "You look like you're about to walk into hell and turn it into a crater!"

"That's the idea, so thanks," Katsuki said, following Eijiro out of the men's locker room was Denki, who wore a white undershirt, black jacket with white lightning stripes, matching pants with a single white stripe down each leg, and a white headset. It gave him a bit of a 'cool guy' look, though that he'd gotten a headset told Katsuki the boy wasn't entirely useless in his costume design. With something like that he'd be able to call for help when his quirk wasn't useful for a situation, like those heroes who'd stood back and let the sludge villain nearly suffocate him to death.

The rest of the class started to pour out from there, Tenya had a set of blue and silver plate armor and a full helm, all reminiscent of his brothers outfit though a bit heavier on the legs to better insulate his legs. Katsuki could see the smarts behind it, force equaled mass times speed, so going full throttle in a set of armor like that would end badly for anyone on the other side of him while protecting him from being hurt by the hit as well. It also was a very heroic look, a literal knight in shining armor... though Yuga had him beat in that regard.

While Tenya's armor was modern in appearance, sleek and with a few more aerodynamic choices in the wedges and shapes, Yuga went full medieval in his armor. Black pants, gloves, and long sleeved undershirt with a full set of knights armor with a violet hue and gold trim. His armor was also adorned with four gemstone-like lenses, smaller than the large one on his belt. Combined with his navel laser Katsuki figured he was going for the 'Shining Beacon of Hope' look, and he was doing a damn good job of it.

He couldn't say he saw where each of his fellow classmates were going with their costumes, however. The rock head Koji was wearing a red shirt with yellow sides, sleeves, and the image of a set of teeth on his chest, along with yellow shorts, and yellow tennis shoes with red trim. Sato was in a large yellow body suit that covered everything but his hair and mouth, along with white gloves, boots, and a utility belt. Mashirao had just given himself a karate gi with a hole for his tail and a fur half collar on his left shoulder.

Shoto Todoroki was dressed in a white collared shirt with long sleeves, white pants, and white boots with a gold colored combat vest. He was also using his ice to cover his left side of his body and head. Katsuki got the feeling there was a more personal reason for the ice, as he couldn't imagine it was comfortable, or helpful.

Fumikage was dressed in a dark purple cloak and boots, and Mezo was wearing a light blue sleeveless top and pants, with a purple mask that covered his lower face and neck before draping down his shirt over his pecs, as well as purple boots and a purple belt with a brass ring for a buckle. Finally, Sero had a black bodysuit with sleeves that reached halfway down his biceps, and a white design that turned the black area of his suit into a cross between the metal teeth of a tape dispenser and the mouth of a cartoonish skull. He also had orange shoulder pads and an orange helmet, all of which looked like tape dispensers, along with some metallic bands on his waist and thighs. Completing his look, a pair of white shoes with orange trim.

"Dude... are you wearing a di-"

"It was supposed to be a belt, I'm not sure what happened!"

"The ladies have arrived!" Mina said as she threw open the door to the women's locker room, wearing a purple and turquoise, skintight, shoulder-less bodysuit with a tan, fur collared vest, a white mask, and dark brown boots with tan soles and toes. Next to her was a floating pair of gloves and shoes, confusing Katsuki for a moment before he realized the invisible girl was literally only wearing gloves and shoes for her hero costume. He must never allow her near Izuku's costume book.

The next two to come out were Tsuyu and Kyoka. Tsuyu's suit looked rather complex, a goal in mind with its design. A green skintight bodysuit with dark green and yellow stripes to imitate the appearance of a frog, as well as a set of straps over her chest and around her shoulders. A pair of large collared white gloves, a white belt, and dark grew thigh high boots with flippers designed like frog toes, with a set of tan goggles with dark green lenses resting on her forehead completed the look.

Kyoka, on the other hand, had a very simple design, a slightly torn salmon pink shirt, black pants, and a leather jacket that covered her arms but only reached halfway down her body. A black choker around her neck and a pair of large boots with stereo speakers on them, and finally a set of white gloves completed the rocker look she seemed to be going for.

Next, he saw Momo, who seemed to be walking backward, she was wearing a cross between a leotard and a vest, colored bright red with matching boots and a large yellow belt holding up a book on a shelf over her backside. "Hold on, do you really need those?"

"They let me use my quirk without having to carry around a knife all the time!"

... No...

Coming out next was Ochaco, who was in a black and pink bodysuit with detached sleeves, wide pink bracers with handles, and very wide knee-high boots, as well as a dark pink choker, belt, and a pink helmet that looked like the front half of an astronauts helmet. "I think Momo has a point... it's kind of scary knowing what those do."

No no no...

"They let me use my quirk quickly and with more benefits than a knife... it's not like they hurt me, what's scary about them?"

"Motherfu-u-u-u..." Katsuki started to swear, but then he actually saw Izuku, and his voice died in his throat.

The green haired zombie girl was in black sailor fuku that looked just like the one she used to wear back in middle school, but with a bunch of red stitch marks not unlike her quirks stitches crisscrossing the outfit, making it look like it was pieced together after getting torn up, along with a pair of black Mary Janes with extra thick soles and crimson thigh high socks. Over her elbows, ankles, and neck were a set of metallic cuffs, while what looked like boxing bandages were wrapped around her knuckles, hand, and forearm, with a slight hump matching the size of the metal cuffs where the bandages covered her wrist. Finally, over to the top of her head was a metallic red headband, finishing the costume. Her hair was tied back into a set of messy ponytails, giving a clear view of the permanent stitches crossing over her forehead and jawline, left behind from her original death.

Katsuki gawked at Izuku's appearance, as did the other boys as Izuku realized they were there and waved at them.

"... I'm not ready! I am not even remotely ready!" Minoru said as he put away the letter he'd been writing and grabbed his book, opening to page five and repeatedly reading the line in the middle of the page in his head, blood gushing from his nose. After a bit, he stopped reading and the blood slowed down a bit. "Whew... for a moment I thought all the smooth, supple skin and wonderful body types practically on display were going to kill me... damn it!"

Katsuki turned around and started walking to the entrance to the training ground. "Whatever, let's get going." He said as the other students nodded and followed after him, eventually catching up him and walking beside him as a group. As they came closer to Training Ground Beta's entrance they saw All-Might standing there waiting for them to come into the light.

 **"They say clothes make the pros young ladies and gentleman and Behold you are the proof!"**

When they came out into the sunlight All-Might continued. **"Take this to heart, as of now you are all Heroes in Training!"** He said, grinning at them. **"I'm getting all revved up, you all look so cool! Now, shall we get started, you bunch of new- Is that a diaper young man?"**

"It was supposed to be a belt!"

 **"Anyway, now that you're ready, it's time for combat training-"**

"Sir, this is the fake city for the entrance exam, does that mean we'll be conducting urban battles again?" Tenya said, causing Izuku to look at him and smile, she hadn't realized that was Tenya. He picked a cool costume in her opinion.

All-Might held up two fingers. **"Not quite, we're moving you two steps ahead thanks to how well you all did during the apprehension exams! Most of the time when the news shows off a battle against a villain it's outside, but statistically speaking most run-ins with a villain take place indoors!"** All-Might said.

"Think about it, backroom deals, home invasions, underground lairs, true villains stay in the shadows, out of sight until just the right moment!"

All-Might threw an arm out towards one of the fake buildings. **"For this exercise, you'll be split into teams of good guys and bad guys and fight two on two indoor battles!"**

"Isn't this a bit advanced for our second day?" Tsuyu said, getting a grin from All-Might.

 **"The best training is what you get on the battlefield, but remember you won't be facing replaceable robots but real people!"**

At this point questions poured forth.

"Sir, will you be deciding who wins and loses?"

"How much can we hurt the other teams?"

"Do we need to worry about the losers getting expelled like before?"

"Will we be paired up based on chance or comparative skill?"

"Isn't this cape crazy?"

Izuku watched as All-Might tensed up at the rapid-fire questions and looked between her classmates, having a moments difficulty keeping up herself. **"I-I wasn't finished talking..."** All-Might said, choking out the words a bit. He then reached into his belt and pulled out a set of papers. **"Alright, Listen up!"**

 _'A script, why does he need one of those?'_ Izuku thought to herself as All-Might cleared his throat. _'Did he forget his own teaching plan?'_

 **"The situation is this, the villains have hidden a nuclear missile somewhere in their hideout, the heroes must try to foil their plans. To do so the good guys must either capture the villains or recover the weapon!"** All-Might said as he pulled a yellow box out with the word Lots on it in bold print. **"Likewise, if the villains can protect the missile or capture the heroes, they win! Time is limited in this scenario so we'll decide teams by drawing lots!"**

"Wait, isn't there a better way to set up the teams?"

Izuku shook her head at Tenya. "Not really, in a situation like this heroes would have to team up with whoever's closest, as waiting for the perfect team could end badly while having at least a basic team moving in can buy enough time for better-suited heroes to move in," Izuku said, causing Tenya to hold the chin of his helmet between his thumb and index finger.

"I see... by drawing lots we emulate the randomizing effect stumbling onto a plot by accident might bring of course! Forgive my rudeness!"

"No sweat, let's draw!"

Izuku rushed up a draw a lot, getting a small piece of paper with a C on it and then walking away, she wondered who her teammate would be. She knew Katsukis fighting style inside and out, and working with Momo would give her access to all kinds of useful gadgets. If she worked with Tenya it would be scary for anyone they were up against, both of them were very quick after all. Ochaco's quirk would be hard to use but it would allow them some advantages, they could lighten certain objects around the base into oversized weapons.

"... I'm gonna die, he's so gonna kill me after this..."

Izuku looked towards the source of the words and saw Minoru with a piece of paper in his hands, printed on it was a C.

 **"Team A, Ochaco Uraraka and Kyoka Jiro! Team B, Mina Ashido and Fumikage Tokoyami! Team C, Izuku Midoriya and Minoru Mineta! Team D, Katsuki Bakugo and Koji Koda! Team E, Momo Yaoyarozu and Yuga Aoyama! Team F, Eijiro Kirishima and Mezo Shoji! Team G, Shoto Todoroki and Tsuyu Asui! Team H, Mashirao Ojiro and Hanta Sero! Team I, Denki Kaminari and Rikido Sato! Team J, Toru Hagakure and Tenya Iida!"** All-Might said, ignoring the sound of Katsuki's grinding teeth as the boy glared at Minoru, who was hiding behind Izuku. All-Might put his hands into a white box and a black box. **"And the first fight will be between... These Guys!"**

He was holding up a black ball with a C on it, and a white ball with an E. **"Team C will be the villains, while team E will be the heroes!"** All-Might said. **"Team C, please head into the building, you'll have ten minutes to hide the bomb, heroes, once those ten minutes are over you'll be allowed to enter the building however you see fit, you will have twenty minutes to either capture the villains or secure the bomb!"**

Izuku's face scrunched up in thought as she moved towards the building while Minoru stayed behind her with his face buried in his book. "True beauty is invisible to the eyes, ignore what you see, True beauty is invisible to the eyes, ignore what you see..." He said as they went into the building and found the bomb on the first floor. "... Okay, I think I'm good for now... so, we're villains for now?"

"It'll be good training, especially if we really try to act like villains, it'll let us experience the ideas and mindset so we can better guess their actions in the future," Izuku said as she tried to come up with an idea. They were up against Momo and Yuga, Momo's Creation with Yuga's Navel Laser. "Momo's quirk allows her to make objects using her bodies fat cells as fuel, while Yuga can shoot lasers from his navel and, given his hero suit, probably his elbows and knees, they have lenses now too."

"With my quirk, we could stick this in a ceiling corner, or somewhere people don't look instinctively, buy time that way?" Minoru said as he looked at the bomb. "We should also put it somewhere weird, like the second floor, they might not look as closely as they should then thinking it'd be on a higher floor."

Izuku brought her hand to her chin, her thumb and index finger pushing her cheeks up a bit. Then she grinned and looked over at Minoru, who felt a shiver up his spine and turned to look at her, jumping at the look on her face. "W-What's with that look!?"

"I have the perfect plan... on how to be the scariest villain." She said as started to unwind the bandages around her hands. Minoru whimpered as Izuku took a couple steps towards him, her Mary Janes clicking against the ground with each step.

"It's too much!"

Outside, All-Might led the other eight teams to a viewing room while Momo and Yuga planned out their entrance into the building. "Izuku will probably be the one to plan out their defense. When it comes to quirk analysis and strategy she's the best in our group of friends." She said as she created a pair of gloves with mirror plates on the back of the hand. "Think these would reflect your quirk?"

"Oui, though I thought you'd be more afraid of Minoru, Izuku seems very innocent and harmless."

Momo pulled the gloves on before making a metal staff. "You're not wrong, she's a very good friend, so good she won't hold back here to make sure it's the best possible training for all of us." She said as she twirled it, getting used to the effect on her grip that the gloves made. "On top of that, her quirk is mostly passive in its benefits, but she knows how to force it into having an active effect, combined with the strength and speed she's built up from her training... we'll need to separate Minoru from her and take him out so we can focus on Izuku."

"Couldn't we just find the bomb?"

Momo gave him a look. "You're implying we'd be able to find it after Izuku hides it," Momo said as she did a few stretches. Yuga waited for her to explain why they wouldn't be able to find it, before realizing that to Momo, that Izuku was planning out the hiding spot was enough of a reason. "Anyway, I have an idea on how we can distract Minoru long enough to take him out of commission, from there we can focus on Izuku."

"Lead the way, mademoiselle!" Yuga said as the lights in front of them turned green.

 **"Begin!"**

* * *

"Um... where's the bomb?"

"What the fuck did they do to the fourth floor!?"

" _Hory Shet!_ "

All-Might grimaced and pulled up a small screen just for himself to look through, checking the fourth-floor cameras. His blue eyes widened as the camera went through different settings and revealed what Izuku and Minoru had set up. _'Who would have thought she'd do something like this?'_

* * *

 __"The first floor looks clear... did it always look old though?" Yuga said, and Momo shrugged, the pillars and ground were cracked, as if something... or someone had punched and kicked the building purposely to damage it. Momo wondered why Izuku would do something like that, it would ruin the integrity of the building, which in turn made it harder for Izuku to go all out without bringing the building down on top of them. "Shall we keep moving?"

As they made it to the stairway they looked up and saw Minoru peeking down at them from the fourth floor. He made a noise and ran through the door next to him, getting Momo and Yuga to chase after him. "Remember the plan, we need to take down Minoru first to force Izuku to take us on one on two!" Momo said, getting a nod from Yuga as he used his Navel Laser to launch himself between the flights of stairs. Once he got to the door, which was cracked like the rest of the building, he grabbed the handle and got his navel laser ready. He'd open the door, fire an opening barrage to cover himself as he got a look into the room, and then shut the door again and let Momo catch up so they could move in together.

That plan went belly up as a hand burst through the door, causing it to shatter towards him. He fired his navel laser to try and hit whoever was trying to grab him but... there was no-one there, that's when strings reached out to the hand and the hand came to life, grabbing his mouth.

Momo watched as Yuga was pulled into the room with a muffled scream and chased after him. She looked into the room and paled at the sight, realizing which villain archetype Izuku had picked... one they had experience with. The room was covered in what looked like pustules and blood, with a large central core area that looked suspiciously like the bomb. She was then forced to dodge as a group of purple orbs were flung at her from the ceiling. She took a few breaths to calm her heart down as she tried to think about what she just saw and went down into the third floor to give herself breathing room.

"Okay, Izuku obviously is in there, and so is Minoru, they must have covered the room in Minoru's pop off hairballs, along with... Izuku's blood, to get that look... she is in sooooo much trouble when we're done."

Before she could implement a plan, however, she heard a bone-chilling scream and looked up. Izuku was diving straight at her, her martial bandages loose and trailing behind her, as well as having a row of Minoru's Pop-Off spheres stuck to them. Momo threw herself back and broke through the door. She looked up for a moment and saw the cracks in the ceiling, right above her was the fourth floor, all she had to do was get up there... with a superhuman zombie on her tail. She dodged to the side as a bandaged hand with a trail of bandages and purple spheres flew at her.

Momo tapped her communication device. "Yuga, what happened!"

"I understand why you were scared of her now, she somehow threw her hand at me and pulled me up into one of the little ball cocoons she'd made with Minoru on the ceiling, I am quite stuck and the smell is making me nauseous."

Momo ducked down as muscle strings connected to the hand and swung the bandage/Pop-Off sphere like a flail, trying to catch her before it was reeled back into the room.  
"Can you see the floor?" Momo said as Izuku walked into the room, the girl walked with her hands reaching up to her mouth, tapping against her teeth with wide eyes. She swayed as she walked, making sure to put as much weight into each step as she could, it made her shoes click against the floor loudly, echoing into each other.

"Oui."

"I need to you shoot a beam, when you do I'm going to tell you when to shoot the next one."

Immediately after she said that Izuku broke into a run, launching straight at her as one of Yuga's lasers pierced the ground next to Momo. "Count to two and do it again in same spot!" Momo said as she used the staff she'd made to hit Izuku and force her to the side, then, to block the purple spheres before letting the staff go. She angled her hand between the holes Yuga made with his shot and tilted it. "Sorry, Izuku!"

Another laser shot and it hit her hand, reflecting off the mirror and catching Izuku in the stomach. The zombie girl was launched backward through a wall and down a staircase. "Quickly, shoot that area a few more times, widen the hole so I can get up there!" She said as she made a grappling hook and some rope.

Minoru gulped as he realized from the crashing downstairs what had happened. The plan had been terrifying, and he was getting really close to his limit without bleeding. He had to think of something. As a second laser fired from the cocoon Yuga was stuck to he had up with something. It might make him bleed a bit, but at least he'd buy time if not meet a victory condition.

Momo threw the grappling hook up and, using her quirk, created a picture of how she would have looked wearing an early design of her costume. It was hardened so she'd be able to throw it effectively, one quick throw and Minoru would be too distracted to stop her from getting over to the bomb. As she climbed she saw Izuku's finger grab hold on the bottom of the hole Momo and Yuga had blasted her through. "Damn it, Yuga can you see Minoru?" She said as she started to climb.

"Non, but I did hear him moving something, be careful!"

She bit back a small curse as she climbed through the hole and created a smoke grenade, tossing it down the hole in the hopes the smoke would obscure the hole she'd climbed through and make Izuku take the long way up. "I won't let you win so easily, Izuku, Minoru!"

"Neither will I, I won't let boobs and butts distract me anymore!" Minoru said, making Momo looked up at where his voice was coming from. Her eyes widened at the sight of Minoru on top of a couch, which was swinging towards her held up by two chains of purple orbs stuck together "I'm going to win this!"

Momo dropped the picture and jumped down the hole, grabbing the rope on the way down to keep from hitting the ground. A quick tug and she brought herself back up into the main room, where Minoru was throwing balls at the cocoon Yuga was in. "No more lasers from you pal!" Minoru said before his attention was focused back on Momo, the couch he'd used to try and catch her off guard now stuck to a mass of the orbs they'd used to turn the bomb into something of a fleshy core. She was going to hurt Katsuki for introducing Izuku to horror games. "You heroes won't win, when this bomb goes off everyone will die, and my virus will reanimate them into a horde just like my most amazing creation!"

"Wait, why are you the mastermind, you're wearing a di-"

"It was supposed to be a belt!" Minoru said, practically frothing at the mouth at the reminder about his outfit, ripping a new set of orbs from the top of his head and causing a small trickle of blood to run down his face. Momo took a step back at the face Minoru was making as he jumped forward and into a set of orbs that had been stuck to the ground. He sprung towards her using the added bounciness from the small pile of balls under his feet to move quickly, Momo jumped to the side and Minoru threw one of the orbs in his hands at where she was going to land. Rather than land in the orb Momo twisted and landed in a way that kept her from touching the orb but instead fell backward, which she managed to salvage and turn into a backflip.

Minoru bounced off another set of balls, and then another, rapidly bouncing around the room as he plucked more spheres from his head and threw them at Momo from various angles, forcing her to form a shield in each hand to deflect the shots. "Yuga, shoot towards my voice if you can!" Momo said as she dropped one shield and formed a more reflective one just in time for a laser to burst through the cocoon, she used her shield to change its angle and managed to just hit Minoru. The grape headed boy let out a cry of pain from the hit and was about to hit a wall when a green and black blur caught him. Momo's eyes trailed towards the blur and she mentally groaned, Izuku had gotten through the smoke.

However, rather than say anything, Izuku just shambled up while Minoru climbed onto her back. "My creation and I will bring an end to your pesky interference heroes!" Minoru said, raising a fist into the air.

"Yuga, one more!" Momo said, but no laser came. "Yuga?"

"My tummy..."

Momo bit back a curse. Dealing with Izuku and Minoru at the same time while Yuga was recovering would be difficult. Izuku moved first, grabbing Minoru and throwing him at Momo, who ducked down and created a new staff, holding it up like a spear just in time for Izuku to rush her. Momo thrust forward and swung, using the staff to lead Izuku away from her and towards one of the groupings of spheres they'd made. Instead of getting stuck Izuku jumped over the pile and flipped herself in midair.

Then she kicked her legs up at the ceiling and Momo watched as Izuku's feet shot off of her legs and up to the ceiling, followed by the sound of metal cracking into cement. Momo winced, she hated seeing that, Izuku had even gone and named the trick Undead Reach. Momo spun her staff around her defensively, aware that Minoru would be trying something soon as Izuku's muscle strings pulled her up to the ceiling. A few spheres hit her staff rather than her as she spun it around her, Minoru still bouncing between the various points they'd set up.

Izuku thrust both of her hands at Momo, the cuffs on her wrists releasing a set of blades that cut her hands off in the process. Her hands, wrapped in bandages, flew forward as Momo swung her staff to bat them away, only to realize the spheres on her staff would get stuck to the bandages on Izuku's hands. Izuku's muscles reached out and attached to her hands and started to pull. Momo went to create another weapon as Izuku was pulled to the staff in her hands, she let go of the staff and swung the weapon she had formed, a sledgehammer.

Izuku turned and kicked her feet forward as Momo swung, her feet flew forward and slammed into Momo's stomach as the hammer knocked the rest of Izuku away with a meaty crack. Izuku rolled across the ground, just managing to use her staff to avoid getting stuck to a pile of Pop-off balls. Minoru bounced off the same set of balls and rocketed head first at Momo, who had folded over from the force of the feet hitting her stomach, and managed to headbutt her arm, getting the spheres still on his head stuck to her shoulder. Izuku felt her body realign her ribs back to their correct positions as she rushed towards Momo, who Minoru had ripped himself off of and was currently holding onto the spheres to keep her attention while Izuku moved.

Momo threw Minoru off of her only for Izuku to tackle her, sending both of them to a section of the wall where they'd set up with Minoru's quirk as well as sticking the two girls together.

 **"Both heroes are restrained, Villains win!"** All-Might's voice said over the intercom, and Momo sighed.

"Did you really have to go for a horror genre villain?"

"I am a zombie." Izuku said while Minoru cheered at their victory.

"We won, We won, We-GAH, two amazing girls stuck together chest to chest and against a wall, there's even a panty shot!" Minoru said before running all over the room. "Where's my book, where is it, True beauty is invisible to the eyes, ignore what you see, true beauty is invisible to the eyes, ignore what you see!"

* * *

"I-I-I-I-I'm So-o-o-o-orry-y-y-y-y!" Izuku said as Katsuki shook her back and forth, getting stunned looks from the class. The moment the two teams had made it to the viewing and grading room Katsuki had blasted his way over to Izuku and started shaking her by her shoulders, making her head whip back and forth like a ragdoll. "Plea-ea-ea-ea-ease sto-o-o-o-op!"

Katsuki's eyes were twitching. "I can't fucking believe you, not only did you actually go and have guillotine cuffs made but you literally bled all over the place before the fight even started! What on earth were you thinking, I don't care if you were the villain team that shit is fucked up damn it!" Katsuki said, shaking her harder and getting Izuku to let out a pitiful whine. Todoroki felt his teeth grinding as he watched, true, he was a bit disturbed and felt she needed some sort of explanation of how what she did was wrong... but this wasn't something he had in mind.

Izuku felt herself getting dizzy from the rapid shaking, and decided to see if she could shock Katsuki into letting go of her so she could run to safety or jostle All-Might into starting the next match. So she tensed the muscles in her neck to activate her choker.

 _Schop!_

As Katsuki shook her the guillotine choker cut through her neck, causing her head to fly off over Katsuki and towards the crowd of her fellow classmates. Out of reflex Hanta caught the head and then realized what was in his hand as Izuku's dull at him. "Fuck!" Hanta said while the rest of the class reacted with a mix of screams, horrified faces, and in Momo's case, by putting her face in her hands. Hanta threw Izuku's head as threads moved from the girl's body over to Izuku's head whipped it back onto her body. Once back on her own shoulders Izuku's eyes lit back up and she blinked in confusion, looking around and finding herself in a slightly bloodstained Katsuki's hands, his mouth wide open as various muscles in his face twitched.

"... I don't think I should do that again." Izuku said only for Katsuki's face to contort into the very visage of rage and make her squeal in terror before he started shaking her even harder than before. "Wa-a-a-a-a-a-a-ah!"

"You shouldn't have done it in the first place god damn it, you're going to traumatize the fuck out of people, heroes save lives not traumatize them, for fuck's sake!" Katsuki said. "Why do you even have that!?"

All-Might then jolted himself out of his shock and what had just happened and separated the two. **"That's enough, Izuku, please refrain from needlessly harming yourself. Katsuki, I think she gets it."** He said, getting a scoff from Katsuki as he turned away and Izuku pouted at the Number One hero. **"Now, how about we move on to the next bout... don't worry we have other buildings, you won't have to fight in the same building as our first group!"**

Izuku, Minoru, Yuga, and Momo all found a spot to watch as the next matches began, first was Team F against Team H, with Team H being the heroes. Thanks to Hanta's tape as well as Mashirao's tail, they were able to come in through one of the high floor windows rather than through the front door, however, as it turned out Eijiro somewhat anticipated that, along with Mezo, and they'd placed the bomb on the first floor. Once the two realized that and made their way down Team F showed its plan, one that made Katsuki laugh uproariously.

Mezo was holding onto a hardened Eijiro by his legs. He dropped down from the ceiling and used Eijiro as a baseball bat to knock Hanta into a wall before turning to fight with Mashirao. Mashirao, in turn, showed just how fitting a martial arts gi was for his hero outfit, effortlessly weaving around Mezo's swings, even with Eijiro moving his arms and body in attempts to catch Mashirao off guard by being a moving weapon. While it was keeping him from getting hit he also wasn't getting any time to take advantage of any openings.

That is, it worked until Hanta was able to see straight again and started using his quirk. launching his tape at Mezo and Eijiro and forcing the two on the defensive. Mezo threw Eijiro at Mashirao while he moved to take on Hanta, grabbing his tape as he came at him and pulling the boy over to him. Mashirao seemed to be waiting for that, turning the tables further by using his tail to slam Eijiro up into the ceiling before moving to attack Mezo. Hanta was able to catch himself as Mezo's attention was forced back onto Mashirao, letting lengths of tape fly in an attempt to keep Mezo busy and make it more difficult to fight Mashirao off before he broke away to try and go after the bomb.

Eijiro was able to get down and moved to stop him, but Hanta was able to pull himself to the bomb using the tape faster than Eijiro to get to him, winning the match for the hero team.

Next was team A against Team I, with team A as the heroes. Izuku watched as Kyoka used her quirk to hear the footsteps of Denki and Rikido, who were hiding on the fourth floor. With that in mind, Kyoka waited for a moment, one earphone jack in the ceiling, the other in the floor. Once one of them stepped over her she pumped the sound of her heartbeat into the jacks, breaking a hole in the fourth and third floors, sending Denki down to the second floor while Ochaco kept them from falling with her quirk. Kyoka than used her jacks as grappling hooks to pull the two of them into the room Rikido and Denki had been hiding the bomb in, just in time for Rikido to grab Ochaco and throw her at one of the walls.

"Wrong one," Izuku said as they watched Ochaco turn in midair and use her boots which were designed to cushion falls, to cushion the throw and deactivated her quirk. Kyoka then jabbed her earphone jacks into her boots and was about to use soundwaves to hold Rikido down, just for the boy to grab her face and throw her down the hole. Ochaco rushed towards the bomb while Rikido went after her, reaching out to grab her and take her down quickly. Ochaco held her hands out and caught Rikidos hand, turning him weightless mid-step. The result was that rather than grab her and throw her, he grabbed her, his next step sent him into the air, and the speed of movement brought Ochaco with him as they bounced off the ceiling and barreled into the wall.

Meanwhile, on the second floor, Kyoka had been able to slow her decent a bit by grabbing the edge of the hole between the third and second floors. She then let herself drop upon realizing Denki wasn't going to pull her down and use his quirk, a quick look around revealed where he was. He'd shaken off the effects of the fall and was a few steps from getting to the stairway. Her earphone jacks were still plugged into her boots, so she unleashed a blast of sound waves by amplifying the sound of her heartbeat, catching Denki off guard. Izuku watched as she brought her hand to her headset and said something, but the cameras didn't have audio, so Izuku didn't know what Kyoka was saying.  
Once she was done however Ochaco nodded and moved towards the bomb again after lightly tossing the weightless Rikido off of her and slowly spiraling through the air. She looked sick, all the more ready to throw up as she got closer to the bomb before she started swaying her head. Just before she reached the bomb she ended up puking, propping a hand against the bomb to keep herself steady.

 **"One more victory of the heroes!"** All-Might said, and Izuku smiled at Ochaco's win. As All-Might reached into the boxes she wondered who would be facing each other next out of the four teams left. She didn't wonder long though as the pulled out two spheres. **"Team D will be the villains, and Team G is the heroes!"**

Katsuki looked at this teammate, Koji Koda, who seemed a bit scared of the idea of playing the villain. He nodded, even if he was supposed to be faking it, the idea made him feel a bit sick. Still, they needed a plan so he put a hand on the big guy's shoulder. "Come on, let's go show these idiots what Plus Ultra looks like." He said before walking out of the viewing room with Koji following behind him. Shoto watched them leave as his partner, Tsuyu, walked over to him with a finger to lips.

"This will be hard, our quirks aren't exactly compatible." She said, and Shoto looked over at her, wondering what she meant by that. "My quirk, Frog, makes cold temperatures difficult, and your quirk has to do with ice."

"That's fine, you can focus on Koji, I will deal with Katsuki," Shoto said, he couldn't have imagined a better way for this to go. A chance to make Katsuki see him as a rival as well as show Izuku that he'd be strong enough to keep her safe if she tried to escape. He almost felt a smile begin to form on his face as he walked forward, warming the left half of his face so his entire face was on display rather than just half. It felt necessary, he wanted to Katsuki to see his face as his team lost, get a good view of him and call him his rival. Then he'd get her away from him before he even realized what was happening, maybe even get him removed from the school so there wouldn't be another hero like Endeavor. "I'm curious how his explosions will fare against my ice."

"Ribbit, if you say so."

* * *

Katsuki pulled a few grenades from his belt and handed them to Koji, who looked at them with a bit of fear. "Don't worry too much about it, they're more bang than flame." He said as he sat down and checked his greaves, opening the panel that hid the containers that were supposed to be pre-filled with his sweat. Empty, not exactly to be unexpected seeing as he just got the things. He brought his grenadier gauntlet over to the containers he put the nozzle of his gauntlet against the opening and pulled the pin without igniting the fluid. Once both were filled he resealed the greaves and looked at Koji.

Alright, the plan's pretty simple and since I get that you're not the fighting type it should work well to put us both in a situation we can get a good handle on. That girl's outfit is frog based and her powers are two, so I'll bet she has the same drawbacks, making chilly fingers a bad match for her in a fight. Both as an enemy and an ally he'd only weaken her, that means I can either force him to go too far or he'll constantly hold himself back if we catch them together."

* * *

"Given how he acts, Katsuki is likely aware of your weakness, your quirk is an animal mutation with a weakness that matches that animal. He'll come straight at us hoping to capitalize on it. As such you should stay behind and look for a different route into the building. Once you hear us start fighting, move in and look for the bomb as well as his partner." Shoto said as he and Tsuyu looked over a basic blueprint of the building, Shoto drawing simple shapes to help picture the idea. "Once you find it, let me know so I can increase my efforts and take him by surprise, if I can freeze him, it'll make our job much easier."

Tsuyu nodded and pointed at the third floor. "They'll probably hide the bomb here, either that or the fifth floor, but going all the way up will take away time from them as well as us, and that Katsuki seems like he'll want as much time as he can get fighting rather than waiting."

* * *

"They probably know we're setting up on the third floor, and because of the fact that one is weak to the others quirk they'll probably split up. Against that Icy guy you don't have a shot, you just don't have the firepower. Frogger though might not expect that you have working grenades though, and you can use birds to throw off her attempts to get in from above." Katsuki said, getting a nod from Koji as the two of them put the fake bomb into place. Koji then pointed up and tilted his head. "You're so lucky Izuku and I have a mute friend or I wouldn't understand shit from you... She's coming from above because she'll be able to keep quiet as to when she moves in, while Icicle boy wouldn't be able to keep it quiet, giving away their position."

"That's why I'll head down a floor and set up for an ambush, while you use your power to control the nearby pigeons into being a nuisance and using explosions to keep her from getting to the bomb."

 **"Begin!"**

"Radio me if things seem out of control, remember I'm just a floor below you, if you need help I'll break from Frostfuck and blast my way up to you."

* * *

 **"Begin!"**

"Go, I'll handle him."

Shoto ran forward into the building while Tsuyu took a few steps back, watching as birds started to circle the building while she tried to guess which window would be best for her to move in from.

 _'Watch, you don't have to live in fear of him, to stay close just to keep others safe while he breaks away at your state of mind.'_ Shoto thought to himself as he let his right side grow cold, ready to form ice at a moments notice. He wasn't sure when he broke into a full sprint, or when he started being able to see his breath. There was nothing on the first floor, and he moved to the second without resistance. Once he got there however he heard a spark and formed an ice wall in front of him just in time to see a shockwave slam into it, cracking the ice and causing it to break apart, nearly pushing him back down the stairs if he hadn't frozen his feet to the ground. _'I could have just frozen the building, but with his explosions, he would have been able to break out along with his partner, which would have put me at a two-on-one disadvantage... besides.'_

"I knew you and I were going to end up fighting each other one on one, have to admit, considering you beat me in the apprehension test by a single spot I'm actually a bit excited," Katsuki said, cracking his knuckles as he started to lower his center of gravity, preparing for a fight.

 _'I want to see the look on his face when I drive him back with my own two hands!'_ Shoto said as ice formed around him. "You said you wanted this class to prove itself equal to you and her right... well, here I come"

"Heh, I think I'm going to enjoy this spar, you damn snowball!"

* * *

 **Omake 6 : UA's Zombie Bunny.**

"Kacchan, look at what Midnight gave me!"

"Heh, this should be good."

Katsuki stopped practicing his aim with the A.P. Shot and looked over at Izuku and Nemuri Kayama, aka Midnight, and proceeded to choke on his spit. Izuku was dressed in white button shirt with puffy sleeves, a red backpack, black Mary Janes with brass buckles, white over the knee socks... and a skirt that stopped just short of reaching her socks, showing just a sliver of her thighs... and a hairband with two dark green bunny ears, the left one folded slightly at the middle.

With a quick turn she revealed a puffy white ball half again bigger than his fist on the waistline of the skirt. Katsuki made a high squeak of a noise as he gaped as his childhoods friends appearance. Izuku then looke up at Midnight, who was giggling at the face Katsuki was making. "Oh, by the way, when you use your quirk are there different parts that are easier to form the mist fro-mmph!"

Nemuri had pulled a carrot from her black leotard and shoved it into Izuku's mouth. For a moment Izuku just blinked, her teeth clamping down on the carrot while her lips closed around it. She then reached up with both hands and pulled it from her mouth. "A carrot?"

"They're good for you, call it a present kiddo!" Midnight said.

"Oh, Thank you Midnight, Itadakimasu!" Izuku said before chomping down on the carrot and chewing.

She then looked up at the sound of a loud thump. Katsuki had passed out and fallen backwards onto the ground. "Kacchan!"

 _'This is gold!'_

* * *

 **A new bit this time after our friendly Omake, some responses to reviews I felt should get a response because they either brought up good points or asked good questions, points and questions that other people might have but didn't bring up.**

 **First, the questions in the reviews for last chaper that I feel like answering since they were good questions.**

 **ThFlash : Katsuki beating Izuku in the long distance run was a decision based on one scene in the series in particular, Katsuki's escape from the villains during the Hideout Raid Arc.**

 **In that scene Katsuki used only a few explosions to accelerate and catch up with Tenya who had just launched off of an ice ramp while using his recipro burst. He was carrying others with him, but in the cavalry battle with similar weight on his back he was capable of moving at a speed that was difficult for Izuku to react to.**  
 **This is the same Izuku that managed to time his fall and movement, after the rather jarring effect of exploding, to plant both feet on two peoples shoulders firmly enough to swing a metal plate bigger than he is, without One for All active, at just the right spot to knock himself forward while knocking the people he was standing on back.**

 **This means to me that if Katsuki is going all out, as Eraserhead demanded, and now having the room to fire off more than one explosion without risking himself or the building they were inside at the time, he would be able to outpace Izuku's 30-35 mph using his explosions.**

 **As for why he can do this now what that's near the end of the UA Beginnings Saga of the series. With Izuku's change, the feeling of responsiblity to keep her safe, and having the boosted quality of training gear and advice he'd get from living at UA for near ten months and Mirio, Nejire, and Tamaki giving him advice on how to best use his quirk, he's faster than when he started UA in canon. He might not be at the Hideout Raid arc level yet, but he'd be quick enough that he could overtake her by speed with enough room to let loose.**

 **XxMysticalLunarxX : I laughed reading this but then thinking about it realized, yes, Shoto half-assed the tests when you look at it because he only used his ice. However when it comes to versatility his Ice wins out in each of the tests anyway. Endeavor is capable of some pretty interesting things with his fire but that's with his entire body wielding that fire, Shoto's fire only works on his left side and he's not very good with it due him not using it out to his hatred for his father.**

 **For tests like setting up for a long jump, running, and other tests, Shoto's Ice is capable of taking the shapes and forms he needs to advance in those tests. Just as much as you could say Shoto is only bringing half of his power to the table one could also argue he's only bringing the part of his quirk that's useful to it.**

 **He can't use the fire as a jet but he can use ice create a pillar at a certain angle to throw himself through the air and then make a ramp to land smoothly, making long jumps. Fire would just melt the grip test but he could hold the test and then starting forming ice to squeeze the gauge for him, giving him unnatural grip pressure until the ice breaks, and Shoto's ice is rather durable. His run times would only really be limited by how fast he could create ice before it becomes dangerous to make more ice.**

 **In short, Shoto gets away with it because while he's not using his fire actively like he should be, he is using the part of his quirk that's best suited for the testing.**

 **MrRockingHippie : Kokku's death was something I had to go back to and make sure I'd put in the right detail. That detail using her quirk on the much larger metal club instead of the barbell weight was causing her to feel pressure in/on her head. Every quirk has a downside, Sero's skin will dry out the more tape he shoots, Yuga's does damage to his stomach, Momo's uses the fat in her body which, if she were to use too much of it would damage her internal organs. Denki regularly fries his own brain, Shoto has to use Ice and fire interchangeably or he risks hypothermia, and Minoru will start bleeding pretty badly if he pulls enough of his hairballs off. Kyoka's earphone jacks are part of her ear which is one of the easiest parts of the human body to rip off making her hilariously easy to disarm if you get close, Tsuyu can go into hibernation mode if you have the air conditioning low enough, so on and so forth.**

 **For Kokku, her quirk's downside was that her quirk caused blood to rush to her head, and by going too far she developed aneurysms. This created the pressure on her head that she noted before dying, it was the aneurysms pressed against her skull and the release of the pressure was because they burst, shredding her brains arterial veins. She'd been able to survive prior to this because before she was lifting weights that she was already able to move so ti didn't stress her quirk enough to trigger much of her downside, like how Denki can use small amounts of electricity with no side effects, however Rakshoni's club was above her usual limit, and it was only because of desperation that she was able to grab hold of it in the first place.**

 **As a bit of a bonus piece regarding the character, when I was writing her Kokku was actually going to survive and join up with Gunheads agency after the clinic, but decided to kill her off and replace her with Retribution and Coagulate instead. The first reason for that was because I couldn't see Kokku having the firepower to deal with somone like Mary, and the second was put additional reason for Izuku to push her training well beyond what any normal person would do, and reach superhuman capacities as a result.**

 **Now, points that were brought up I felt I should at least give some feedback because they were good ones.**

 **Mary : The sudden shift in tone just prior to the posting of this one, as well as a quality change. I apologize about that, if I had to give reasons to the quality change that would likely due to me starting a new job.**

 **As for the shift in tone that's because we're moving to the beginning of UA, while it would be nice to write that she's constantly what equals mortal peril to others but is somewhat safe for her, it's time for her to go to school. Thankfully we have the USJ to bring back some of that peril back soon. We'll also be moving out of the Izuku build up phase soon and into the rest of the characters motivations now that the cast is all in place. As for Tenya losing the race, he actually beat her by half a second, as he reaches 40 mph in the short race.**

 **As for Shota singling Izuku out, in a way he'd done that with Izuku in the main series as well, just for opposite reasons. In keeping an eye on him throughout because he felt Izuku didn't belong., I feel it would be entirely in his character to further scare the hell out of his students by pointing out that they wouldn't be safe just because they managed One good score, forcing them to go all out in each test.**

 **Yes, people are impressed by Izuku, but that's because Izuku is meant to be somewhat impressive. Compare Manga/Anime Izuku to a number of the heroes and you'll find Izuku wins on moral merit as soon as those heroes open their mouths.**

 **Mt. Lady, a vain glory hog who will wait until all the work is done to steal the glory and despite being high up on the hero board uses her appearance to get handouts, rather than pay with the money the government forks out to her for doing her job.**

 **Kamui Woods, so theatrical he claimed a purse snatcher who caused a scene during rush hour to be the epitome of villainy rather than just focus on taking the guy out, a guy so big one wrong step would have killed plenty of people.**

 **Every hero involved during the sludge monster attack, unable to think about maybe just having Deatharms run over and grab the kid while Kamui Woods acted as an anchored rope and Backdraft hosed the sludge villain off and out into the street.**

 **Endeavor.**

 **They live in a word where the word hero means 'profession involving civic duty', only for a boy to come up and remind them it means to give your everything to save others.**

 **Nearly every character Izuku meets in the series ends up being impressed in some minor way. All-Might, right in the opening, Ochaco and Tenya, with his first smash, Shota, Quirk Apprehension, Tsuyu, USJ, Practically everyone Izuku so much as touched at in the Sports Festival, Stain who literally considers any hero who isn't the very image of All-Might to be trash within mere minutes of meeting the guy, The Wild Wild Pussycats along with Kota during the forest training. He even manages to impress Yuga without ever having a conversation with the dude, Yuga just appreciates the fact that Izuku keeps going through the pain like Yuga does, Yuga's pain is minor in comparison.**

 **In this story, Izuku is meeting certain characters that Canon Izuku never really gets to interact in the Manga or Anime, while yes he knows Momo and they go to save Katsuki together, they're not exactly friends as much as comrades. Tetsutetsu is only really shown briefly but we've seen enough to know that he's a hotheaded guy with a loud mouth and a desire to prove himself. Putting him next to a person like Izuku, who is constantly doing the same thing but with a shy attitude and I could see the two of them having the sort of friendship where Tetsutetsu exclaims thing loudly while Izuku tries to be modest about it. Hitoshi got to meet Izuku in a non-competative setting and with a quirk that isn't a blessing as he puts it in the manga/anime. Combined with them all surviving an extremely traumatic event and they're all rather close.**

 **Now that we've done this once, I'll be trying to keep doing them but also not do them too often to keep from having them artificially inflate the stories word count. I'm thinking once every six chapters or so. Thank you all for the reviews and the criticisms.**

 **Wickerbot**


	15. The Battle Trial, Part 2

_Welcome to UA Arc, Part 3 : The Battle Trials, Part 2_

* * *

Shoto and Katsuki stared each other down, waiting for the other to make the next move. The room they were in was spacious, giving both of them room to maneuver while still restraining how big they could make their attacks. Shoto knew that and welcomed it, his ice was much better at preventing collateral than a bunch of explosions so he wasn't as limited as Katsuki was. With that in mind swung his right hand up, creating a wave of jagged ice to try and pin the explosive quirk user down.

Instead, Shoto found himself dodge small, beam-like fireballs that managed to pierce through his ice, followed by the ice glowing for a moment and cracking apart, then glowing again as a large blast shattered it, forcing him to defend himself from the frozen shrapnel. "Damn, that's some tough ice Frosty, I punched holes in it and it still took more than one big blast to break it. I got a bit excited for this fight, so thanks..." Katsuki said before throwing his hands behind him and setting off an explosion, launching himself at Shoto. "... for not holding back!"

Shoto put his right foot in front of him, sending a rounded pillar of ice at the rapidly approaching boy, but he just used a second explosion to go around it, twisting himself to kick at Shoto's right side. Shoto formed a quick wall of ice, intending to make it grab the boys leg and then slam him into a wall. Instead, an explosion blasted from the metal boots Katsuki was wearing and spun the explosive boy around, allowing him to redirect his kick to strike Shoto's left side.

Shoto guarded with his left arm and reached with his right to grab Katsukis leg, icing it over just in time to minimalize the following explosion. Katsuki then created an explosion with his hands to put distance between the two of them. Shoto knelt down and slapped his right palm against the ground, a sheet of ice forming over the floor as a result. Katsuki looked down and saw the ice was starting to form spikes, he probably had a second or two before that became an issue. He took one of his grenades out and threw it at the ground before using an explosion from his hands to launch himself back at Shoto.

The spikes in the ice grew rapidly, reaching halfway to the ceiling before the grenade went off, breaking them apart before they could block of Katsuki's path to Shoto. However, Shoto was more prepared for close combat this time, creating a platform under his feet and using it to launch himself at Katsuki and punch him in the jaw with his left fist, covered in a layer of ice. Katsuki retaliated by grabbing his left wrist and using a set of explosions from his other hand to spin them around, putting Shoto between himself and the ground before putting both palms on Shoto's chest. "Is that it?!"

Katsuki fired off an explosion from both hands, sending Shoto to the ground hard enough to crack the ice around his landing as well as break apart some of the ice on his left side. For a moment Katsuki wondered why Shoto didn't freeze his hand when he grabbed the ice but soon got an answer when Shoto had to bring his right hand over to the ice on his body to fix the broken areas.

'Why's he only making ice from this right side... his dad's quirk can make fire from his entire body...' Katsuki thought to himself as he looked at Shoto, noting the ice covering his left side. The boy's head wasn't covered, giving Katsuki a clear view of how his hair was red on the left and white on the right, and that the right side of his face looked a bit more seared from his attacks than the left.

"You've got more than ice, don't you? Better be one hell of an ace to be keeping to your chest so tight you risk a bomb to the face."

Shoto narrowed his eyes as Katsuki rolled his shoulders. "If you want to see my left you're going to be disappointed, I refuse it to use my father's quirk." He said, causing Katsuki to stop and look at the iced-over boy. Katsuki popped his neck and leveled a glare at Shoto, then sighed as he brought up and arm and pointed at Shoto.

"You mean to tell me, you think you can win by half-assing this fight?" Katsuki said as he brought his other hand to his outstretched arm as if steadying it. In reality, he was turning a dial on the end his bracer to set how much of his bracers sweat to use in his next attack, using a full tank would be overkill and risk dropping the building. He broke into a cold sweat just thinking about it, flashbacks of the sludge bastard wrapping itself around and within him, of the lives Katsuki had accidentally taken. "You'd better rethink that, there's no way in hell you're winning without putting in a real fucking effort!"

As Shoto formed another wave of ice Katsuki set off an explosion in his hand, the cold sweat from before enhancing the blast to stop and crack it as he put the dial to fifty percent. "If you think you can insult everyone in this fucking school by trying to be a hero without giving it your all you're dead wrong!" Katsuki said, spit flying in his rage as he pulled the pin on his bracer.

The resulting blast destroyed the ice and kept going, forcing Shoto to form a second wall only to shatter through that as well before slamming into Shoto himself. The boy nearly screamed as the blast ripped him off his feet and through the door behind him before embedding him into the outer wall of the building. The moment he stopped he created a dome on ice in front of him, stopping the shrapnel his ice walls had turned to from causing him any further damage. "What was that!?" Tsuyu said through the headset, and Shoto involuntarily groaned he pulled himself from the wall. "That hurt even with a floor between us and it not being aimed at me!"

"Nothing I can't handle," Shoto said, he probably shouldn't have said that. He figured the boy would be impressed that even with only half his ice they could stand on equal ground. His father was the sort of person who would have been impressed if Shoto had been anyone else. This wouldn't go well for his plan. "Focus on the bomb."

"Ribbit, I'm starting to think this is a bad idea."

Shoto ignored her comment and threw his arm out, making the dome in front of him grow into a large group of spikes and launch forward at Katsuki. Between the smoke and dust from the blast, Katsuki didn't see them in time, and a few caught him off guard, slashing his cheek, shoulders, and his left thigh. "I don't know what problem you have with your fucking quirk, or with the rest of us to think you can be the best of us without giving the most effort, but there's no way in hell I'm going to let you win!" He said as he formed a circle with one hand and put it in front of the other. "I'll beat you into the fucking ground!"

He started firing A.P. Shots, smashing the next set of ice shards and then firing one straight as the smoke dissipated, revealing Shoto had formed a second ice wall. Katsuki drew his hand back to release the rest of the sweat from his now half empty grenadier bracer. Before he could use it, however, a pillar of ice shot up from the ground underneath him and struck him in the gut, pushing him up to the ceiling. Katsuki coughed up spit and bile before switching which arm he was aiming with. "Let's see your ice save you from this!" Katsuki said as he pulled the pin on his full bracer, the dial set to use its full payload.

Shoto sighed from the first floor, having used the sounds of Katsuki's explosions to guess his location and hit him from below. Tough or not, a hit like that should help the explosive blond see the difference between-

The roof shattered and there was blinding light as Shoto felt a shockwave crash down on him from where the pillar had been angled, slamming him into the ground as suddenly everything felt like burning. He rushed to form a shell of ice around him only to feel it crack and melt as it formed. Pieces of concrete started to pulverize him, making it even harder to form a protective shell. Once the blast died down Shoto noticed the blight flash had left a huge blind spot, he couldn't see straight ahead anymore, just the edges of his vision, not to mention his vision was ringing louder than anything he'd ever heard before.

He could just make out Tsuyu asking questions as he pulled himself out of the ground, everything hurt.

"Shut the hell up, I don't care if it's too much, this fuck thinks he can half-ass his way to being a hero!" Katsuki said as he slapped his hand against the ice pillar pushing him against the ceiling and detonated the sweat on his hands, shattering it and falling down to the first floor. He rushed forward to Shoto, who had managed to stand but staggering and trying to find his sense of balance again. "No way in hell!"

Shoto looked up in Katsuki's general direction, he couldn't see him through the dark spots in his vision but every hair was standing on end telling him to create something, anything! He threw his hand out and ice shot forward from underneath him in the form of massive sharp pillars, each one was wide as Shoto was tall. The air rapidly dropped down to near zero temperatures as he did, feeling amazing against his burnt skin, and he poured more energy into his quirk, making the ice form faster.

Katsuki brought his half-filled bracer to bear once more as it stored the excess sweat formed from the last explosion, clenching the muscles in his wrist to fire the rest of the sweat from the bracers tanks since he'd already used the pin trigger. Ice enveloped the bracer just as the explosion was triggered. For a moment it seemed like the ice would keep the blast from starting only for sudden cracks to form, followed by a bright glow before the cracks burst open and fire spewed out from the widening breaks.

* * *

Tsuyu fell to the ground as she lost her balance from yet another building shaking blast, followed by All Might yelling into her headset **"Stop, this is too much, you're going to destroy the building!"** He said before the building seemed to tilt as another blast echoed through the air.

Koji looked ready to start screaming as Tsuyu flung her tongue out around his midsection and dragged him over. "Let's go!" She said, getting a nod from Koji before the two of them jumped from the third floor, Tsuyu using her tongue to help them rappel down. Another shockwave, weaker than the last, ripped through the air and knocked Koji over just as he found his footing on the ground. He stood back up and picked up Tsuyu, running from the building as a red and blond blur ran into it.

"Damn half-assed bastard..." Katsuki said, one arm hanging limply to the side, the grenadier bracer that once covered it destroyed. He pushed himself from the corner of the room. There was little more than broken pieces of ice, some large and jagged that stuck out of the ground like misshapen rocks, others the size of fists and as sharp as knives, the rest little more than a half-melted slush. His vision was dim and blurry, and his ears were ringing slightly, Katsuki couldn't help but note those blasts might be the biggest he's ever used. "... ready to use everything yet?"

On the opposite side of the room, Shoto was forcing himself onto his knees, trying to stand. Between underestimating his opponent's capacities and holding back to prevent from ruining his partner's ability to fight he'd taken a lot of hits. Normally heat, along with cold, didn't really bother him, but he had a limit. His opponents repeated explosions were passing that limit, especially his big blast. Everything hurt, his vision was still covered in black spots that left everything blurry, his ears wouldn't stop ringing.

Before either of them could do anything there was a loud, ear-splitting crack that made both of them wince. Shoto's eyes widened in horror as he realized that he'd heard that despite the ringing while Katsuki looked around, realizing the support pillars for the building were breaking apart around them. "Fuck, fuck!" Katsuki said before he saw Shoto stumbling to get back up and seemingly lost. He was about to move when with a sudden blur of colors and sound he and Shoto found themselves in front of Recovery Girl, who looked at them in shock.

 **"Neither team wins, not that it's important, both of you went too far!"**

Katsuki scoffed. "More like the Icy Fuck didn't go far enough, half-assing the whole fight."

The ringing in Shoto's ears died down enough to hear that, and he glared at the ground. This would make things harder, but that wouldn't stop him from saving that girl from the blonds clutches.

* * *

Izuku was worried, while Katsuki did have a bit of a temper flying off the handle like that seemed out of place. She wondered what they'd talked about while Momo rested a hand on her shoulder. "Izuku... hey, are you alright?" Momo said as Izuku stared at the video feed showing the damage they'd created. From the outside one could see large spikes of ice jutting out from the walls, some having fallen while others pointed up like the thorns on a citrus tree. On the one surviving feed of the inside, there was a mix of ice and fire, portions of the walls as well as exposed support and broken beams burning amongst jagged ice and a slurry of water and ice chucks covering the floor. "Hey... how did Katsuki set off explosions with his feet, I get he had the sweat tanks he prefilled to have the fuel but where was the ignition source?"

"By clenching the muscles in his legs he preloads a small chamber with sweat from the tank, a sensor in the greaves then waits for him to kick, judging the muscle movement in his legs as well as a motion sensor to track movement and specifically a sudden stop indicating the kick landed," Izuku said, looking away from the screen to explain. Momo smiled as Izuku's face went from twisted with worry to scrunched up with thought. "From there, it pumps out the preloaded sweat over what's effectively a spark plug from a car, igniting the sweat and creating an explosion."

"Dude, those two are insane!" Denki said with Minoru nodding beside him. The camera feed from the inside of the building flickered and cut out while the outer camera feed showed the ice that was holding up the building finally give out. The large building fell to the side and with a crash that they could hear from inside the viewing room crumbled against the ground. "Who would have thought they had so much power!"

Ochaco gulped while Tenya adjusted his glasses, this was the kind of power that earned you a place in the hero course, would they be able to keep up? Tsuyu looked at the ice with fear, if All-Might hadn't canceled the match when he did she could have gotten caught up in that... that wouldn't have ended well. Koji looked at the grenade he still had with horror, it might not be as powerful as direct blasts from the explosive boy he'd had as his partner but it was the same stuff, and he'd been preparing to use it. He looked around for a place to dispose of it, he didn't want something so destructive in his hands.

All-Might suddenly appeared before them, shaking all of the students out of their thoughts with a strong gust of wind that came with him. **"There are still two teams who need to take the test, that said I want those teams to keep what just happened in mind."** He said as he gestured to the ruined building on screen. **"Neither team won, in this situation the bomb would have gone off, killing everyone... this is a test of control as much as it is power, now. Team J will be the villains while Team B will be the heroes. Head to the building to the right of the last one and remember both teams should be fighting with the building's integrity in mind!"**

"Yes, sir!" Tenya said as he walked out of the viewing room, the invisible girl, Toru Hakagure following behind him along with the hero team for this match, Mina Ashido and Fumikage Tokoyami ran ahead of them to get to the base first. "This will be tricky, we're outnumbered for this match."

He heard a noise of confusion from Toru, Tenya noted she was very vocal, likely a result of being invisible and thus unable to use facial expressions to get her feelings across to others. He also noted that she was naked to take advantage of her quirk so, invisible or not, he wasn't going to look.

"Fumikage's quirk gives him a shadow version of himself, which he can command, we'll be up against three enemies, not two."

He heard an 'oh' from Toru, followed by the sound of a jump, given the position of her gloves in his peripheral vision he figured she likely did a fist pump with a little hop.

"We'll still win, they won't see me coming and I bet you'll outpace them all day long, can't beat what you can't hit right?" She said, and he felt a hand on his wrist trying to pull him to the designated building faster. "Come on, let's go, we're going to have to be awesome to get everyone's attention after the last round!"

* * *

Izuku watched on the view screen as Toru pulled Tenya into the building, the two of them quickly finding the bomb before the viewscreen turned off and she felt a hand in her hair. She leaned her head back and tilted her eyes up to see who it was, finding Momo looking at her with a smile. "They'll be alright, just focus on the next match when it starts." She said as she formed a comb and a small bowl, using it to help strain out some of the blood that had gotten on the greenettes hair when she'd cut off her own head.

Part of her wanted to reach over and take the choker off of Izuku's neck so she couldn't do it again, but at the same time, she understood that Izuku had a reason for it. She'd leave overcorrecting Izuku to Katsuki, and would instead help the zombie girl realize her friends were just as prepared to encourage her as they were to admonish her when she went too far.

"... Do you think Tenya knows how to clothesline people?" Izuku said after a moment, tilting her head to the side. "Timed right that would end a lot of fights pretty quickly."

Momo blinked at the image the thought gave her, Tenya rushing forward with the exhaust pipes in his legs letting loose streams of fire as his arm caught someone in the neck. That would be devastating, possibly lethal. "I don't think he could do that safely?"

"... Oh, right... windpipes can't take a metal plate moving at highway speeds... and spines are important..."

"Just how much damage can you take if you forget things like that!?" Ochaco said her eyes big and her pupils small as she floated behind the two. Momo sighed as she finished combing out what blood she could from Izuku's hair and tossing it into the trashcan. Izuku might understand that pain exists, but she still tends to forget how lethal some things are for other people. As she walks back over to Izuku the view screen turns on and they see Tenya setting up using tables and chairs, but Toru has already taken off her gloves and shoes. Ochaco then realized she was floating and deactivated her quirk, landing on the ground before standing up hand heading over to Izuku. "I hope Tenya wins... what do you think Izuku?"

"Mina's Acid and Fumikage's Dark Shadow are pretty powerful for a closed environment, Fumikage and Dark Shadow can use pincer and flanking tactics without having to rely on others, and Mina's quirk means no matter the barrier, she can likely get past it by melting it. On the other hand having an invisible opponent like Toru in an unknown area with someone as forward and attention drawing as Tenya, with his quirks loud effects and his metal armor, and an ambush can turn deadly." Izuku said as she leaned her head down, her chin between her thumb and index finger. "It really depends on the first encounter, if Dark Shadow sees in a different spectrum than the rest of us it's possible he could see through Toru's invisibility or Mina uses her acid to reveal Toru's footsteps, it removes their best weapon. But if they can take down Mina or Fumikage in the initial encounter or separate them so Toru can attempt a new ambush without being outnumbered, it'll lean in Tenya and Toru's favor."

"After that though, they all have powers that leave them able to turn the tables. Taking out Mina still leaves Fumikage with Dark Shadow, a versatile quirk that keeps him from being at a numeric disadvantage, but taking out Fumikage doesn't mean Mina is completely beaten, her acid can easily do a lot of damage and be used to create pitfalls and other tricks to throw Toru and Tenya off her trail while she focuses on the bomb." Izuku said, her free hand now up and pointing at the ceiling with her index finger, soon joined by her middle finger. "At the same time, taking out Toru means you still have to deal with Tenya, who has a great deal of family training to fall back on as well as a quirk that makes him fast enough to outpace the others, he could win just by playing keep away if he gets pushed, and taking him out leaves you with Toru, who can use her invisibility and a bit of patience to ambush them again at the right moment, taking them both out or taking one out and then taking the other one when they think it's safe to try and free their partner, not to mention it's hard to fight someone you can't see, if she has training on how to move quietly she'll be able to wear them down."

Momo smiled as Izuku started to come up with strategies and counter-strategies for both teams. It wasn't hard to distract Izuku sometimes, and Izuku knowledge would be impressive to the other students, which meant more friends. It was nice having friends, her family hadn't allowed her the time to make friends prior to the clinic, she'd spent every moment learning on how to be a better hero. That said she did know the importance of having friends in later life, people who would be willing to help or work with you were important in a dangerous profession, and being a Hero was a very dangerous profession. She would help everyone, Izuku included, be the best heroes they could be, and they'd all work together to survive and make the world better.

Much like Izuku had guessed, the first encounter was an ambush sprung by Tenya and Toru. Tenya had waited in a dark room connected to a hallway with a window in it and as soon as Mina and Fumikage were there he rushed forward and grabbed Mina by her shoulders, pushing her back while Fumikage spun to see what was happening. As soon as he did though his legs came out from under him, Toru was attempting to take him out of the fight by capture while Tenya kept them separated. Toru, however, was quickly reminded of Dark Shadow as it materialized from Fumikage's back, slamming her into the ceiling before she could finish tying Fumikage's legs. Rather than be captured however Toru was saved by Tenya, who came back into the room and crashed into Fumikage, throwing them both into the darkened room. In doing so everyone lost track of Toru as Mina entered the room, panting a bit. She readied herself to help Fumikage only for the outline of a fist to press into her face.

Toru then tied Mina's wrists together as her hands came up to her face. "Sir, how is she hiding the capture tape?"

 **"From what I can tell of how it's showing up, she might be keeping the roll in her mouth,"** All-Might said before pressing the button for the speaker. **"Mina Ashido has been captured!"**

The next thing they saw was a large, dark purple hand rush through the hallway. On another camera they watched the hand slam into a wall before pulling back, revealing the image of a girl next to Tenya, who was embedded into the wall. Tenya pulled himself out and they saw some crumbling dust fall from the girl-shaped indentation, leading them to think Toru pulled herself from the wall as well until some more dust was kicked up, showing Toru had fallen to the ground. **"... I'm not sure what to call, Toru Hagakure, are you able to stand."**

After a moment with no response, All-Might nodded. **"Toru Hagakure is beaten by Knock Out!"** He said as Tenya's engines flared before he rushed forward and back through the halls. Izuku watched him move through the camera's until he caught up with Fumikage, who looked like he was hurting while Dark Shadow looked much larger than he had during the quirk apprehension exam. The increased size didn't slow it down, which made it difficult for Tenya to find a good angle to attack from. A part of her still wanted Tenya to win, but he wasn't in the right spot to fight back effectively.

"He needs to get Dark Shadow smaller so he has more room to use his speed, otherwise he'll lose..." Izuku said as Tenya dodged another attack.

 _'This isn't working, think, what would Izuku do here?'_ Tenya thought to himself as he avoided another strike from Dark Shadow. She was smart, analytical, someone who could take a quirk apart in dodged another attack and started trying to break down what he was seeing.

"Stop, Dark Shadow, Stop!" Fumikage said as the quirk threw itself entirely into attacking Tenya, putting him on the defensive.

 _'Right now, Fumikage isn't in control, he's yelling for Dark Shadow to stop, on top of that he's much larger than he was in the hallway and he was even smaller during the outdoor events of the apprehension exams... I'll only have one shot...'_ Tenya thought to himself before putting himself up against a wall, he knocked on it to get Dark Shadows attention and immediately started moving as Dark Shadow smashed into the wall. _'If he got bigger in this darkened room, but stayed small in the sunlight then to get my window of opportunity, I need an actual window!'_

As Dark Shadow pulled himself from the wall with a screech as light began to shine into the room. Fumikage fell to his knees and gasped for air as if he had been suffocating before Tenya rushed in and kicked him in the stomach, then grabbed his head feathers to keep him from flying across the room. "It's over, Hero!" Tenya said as he threw Fumikage to the ground and quickly tied his wrists with the capture tape. "I am victorious!"

 **"Villain Team Wins!"**

Momo smiled proudly at her friend on the video feed while Izuku and Ochaco both pumped their fists into the air and cheered. **"That's all for today, I would have you all go over the VIPs for each round but I need to get back to the Recovery Girls office to check on Young Katsuki and Shoto."** He said. **"Each of you, get back into your school uniforms and come see us about any injuries. If you're too uncomfortable from your injuries for that, head straight to her office rather than change first."**

 **"And remember the lesson we've learned today, you must keep control in any situation, lest you do more harm than good when you try to help!"**

* * *

Katsuki and Shoto sat up in their respective beds, glaring at each other from opposite sides of the room. "So, what the fuck..." Katsuki said, gesturing to Shoto, who's glare intensified when he did so. "... Makes you think only using half your damn quirk in a place that says to use a minimum of one hundred and ten percent at all times is how you should do things?"

Shoto just glared at the explosive teen, as if someone like him would understand. Shoto was about to tell him to shut up when a thought crossed his mind. Perhaps a show of trust would work, tell him why and while Katsuki lets him in for his own amusement, Shoto could begin to work on getting Izuku away from him. "... My father is the Flame Hero, Endeavor. My mother is where my ice comes from, he'd... bought her as part of quirk marriage to combine his quirk with one that would nullify the weaknesses of his quirk, overheating." Shoto said. He didn't have to tell him everything, just the overview for now. "When I was born after numerous other attempts, finally having a split quirk of Half Ice, Half Fire, he started to train me into the ground. Bruises, burns, all of it, my mother disapproved so she started to get hurt as well until she... left, he wants me to surpass All-Might for him since he can't do it himself. That's why I don't use it, I'll become number one without his power, and deny him his dream."

Katsuki stared at Shoto for a bit, then down at his hands. For a moment he wondered if that's what he would have become before karma decided to cash in on the debt he'd owed. He already had been hurting her, snapping at her for not doing what he said, burning and blistering her skin with his explosions when he needed some relief from the stress of mothers yelling and his teachers constantly sucking up to him. Admittedly the first one disappeared when he stopped being an absolute piece of shit. "... Alright, fair enough." He said, getting a somewhat surprised look from Shoto. "While I can't say I understand, I get the reason and as much as I disagree with it... it makes sense."

That wasn't what Shoto had expected to hear, no veiled insult, no laughter. If anything the blond had looked pensive, like he was comparing what he heard to something else.

"Still, that doesn't mean I can just sit around and watch you hold back. If you're going to only use ice we need to make it so your ice is just as fucking good as your dads fire, despite only coming from one half of you, you coming to the dorms?" Katsuki said, getting a nod from Shoto. Katsuki looked over Shoto's arms, signs of training, mostly lean muscle, repetition, and stamina training over strength training. "Then you're joining our little group for training sessions, if you're going to literally half-ass everything by using only one side of your body, we're going to make damn sure it's your fucking good side. Though I bet you the moment Izuku finds out what you're doing she's going to go banana's and start demanding you use your full power."

He couldn't believe it, it actually worked. "Why do you say that?"

"Because she... She's fond of quirks, and hers was really late to come out in full... for someone to have access to their quirk but not use it just to flip off someone..." Katsuki said, then snorted. "Yeah, no, she'll start going over every reason as to why what you're doing is fucking stupid."

Shoto frowned, that... might actually be a problem...

Before he could dig further however All-Might burst into the room, with Izuku right behind him. As the teacher went over to Recovery Girl Izuku rushed up to Katsuki. "You dummy, you could have really hurt someone, what were you thinking!?" She said, her eyes full of tears as she kneeled down at his bedside, her fingers and chin on edge of the bed as she looked up at the blond boy. Katsuki looked uncomfortable as she scolded him with streams of tears running down her cheeks. "You brought down the whole building and scared everybody, you could have been squished!"

"O-Oi, stop crying idiot, I'm fine aren't I!?"

"If I can't use that excuse when you're mad you can't use it when I'm smad!"

"The fuck is smad!?"

"I don't know!"

"Then why the fuck did you say it!?"

"Momo's new friend Kyoka said that's what I was feeling while we were making our way here!"

"Oh great now she's bringing in strays too!"

"Stop calling all our new friends strays Kacchan!"

Shoto watched as Izuku tearfully scolded Katsuki, who seemed embarrassed about the whole thing and eventually started to apologize. What was this, some sort of ploy to keep her from realizing what sort of monster he was? Why did he suddenly have doubts... no, it's a ploy like he just said, a trick to keep her from running away from his abusive grip. He had his in, he was aware of a possible speed bump in the road to rescuing her, and he'd be able to use the bastard as extra training. Maybe it wasn't a mistake to tell him part of the truth. "By the way, Half Ass here is joining us for training," Katsuki said, jerking a thumb at Shoto, who broke from his thoughts to glare at the nickname. Izuku on the other hand just looked up at Shoto, then smiled and waved. "He's pretty strong... but I think you could punch his ice to bits so he needs more work."

"I'm that not strong. It took a few blasts from you to break it... Hi, I'm Izuku, I'm glad you're deciding to train with us!"

She was still a nice person, a bit odd if her plan as a villain or her costumes ability to cut off her own head was anything to go by, but nice. Shoto looked at Katsuki, who was looking over Izuku as she stood up, and found himself clenching his fists. Had he hurt her so often she ignored pain, was that how she could do such things to herself as if it was normal? Izuku walked over to him and held out a hand, which he took, should he just shake it or should he kiss it? He can't be too forward, Katsuki might start reeling her away from him or worse, hurt her for allowing it to happen. He shook her hand and bowed his head to her. "The pleasure will be mine, the two of you seem to be rather strong."

"Of course we are, we're heroes in training, if we were weak we'd be a joke."

"Ah, you must be Izuku, such a nice girl coming to see your classmates after a rough session." Recovery girl said as she matched up to the girl and held out a Pez dispenser with a Kamui Woods face on it. Izuku held out her hands and the heroine flicked the head, causing a piece of candy to pop out into the girl's hand. "These two have recovered, for the most part, save a few tender spots I left as reminders, and they've both gotten a gummy to help give them a little energy, so you can take them back to class now."

As she said that, the bell rang, and she shook her head in amusement. "Or to the dorms, as it would be, take care kiddies."

Katsuki pulled himself from the bed and walked over to the door. "Come on Izuku, we've got homework to destroy and a big dinner to eat." He said, and Izuku walked over to him before turning back to Shoto and waving for him to follow. Shoto nodded and slipped out of the bed, catching up with the two, who were then joined by four more people. "Hey, you guys moving to the dorms soon?"

Tenya nodded. "Indeed, to stay at this prestigious school and have access to its training amenities was too good a chance for my family to let me pass up!" He said while they made their way through the halls. Shoto nodded, he'd used a similar excuse to get his father to agree. Tenya then chopped the air in front of them. "From here on out, each and every step we take will decide what kind of heroes we'll be in the future!"

"How did I know you'd be coming back to the dorms from the nurse's office?"

Izuku looked from her friends to see Hitoshi smiling at her with Tetsutetsu and Osore. She ran up to them, getting her hair ruffled by Hitoshi while Osore hopped up and down, gesturing about different parts of her day while Tetsutetsu walked over to the group. "Hey, a new tag along, another friend of Izuku's huh, names Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu!" He said. Shoto looked at him for a bit, unsure how to react. She seemed to have a lot of normal friends, how were they ignoring how Katsuki acted around her? Still, he couldn't risk bringing anything up, some of them might know and are letting it happen, others might not but he's new, there's no trust yet. A joke, he needed a joke.

"... Am I making the room cold, you seem to be stuttering."

Shoto briefly wondered if he said the wrong thing before he heard a snort, followed by Katsuki bursting into laughter while Tetsutetsu looked at Shoto in shock. "W-What, no! That's my name, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu!" He said, pulling out a piece of paper with his name written in Kanji. "They're not the same, they're just sound the same phonetically!"

"That was fucking amazing you Half-assed bastard, I knew there was a reason you're here!" Katsuki said as he clapped a hand onto Shoto's shoulder. Shoto fought back a wince, he wasn't used to being touched and his shoulder still hurt a bit from the fight. "Half-Ass here gave me a good fight, so I invited him to train with us from now on."

"I'll be living in the dorms with the rest of you."

Hitoshi looked over at Shoto, then nodded. "Alright, what do you like to eat?" Hitoshi said, getting everyone to look at Shoto waiting for an answer.

"Cold Soba."

The purple haired boy nodded and pulled out his phone, texting someone as he did. "So, anyone else in the dorms?" Hitoshi said as he typed into his phone with a thumb. Ochaco nodded and raised her hand.

"I am, it's a lot cheaper than renting an apartment close by... Oh, I just had an idea, maybe you guys could show us your dorms, it might give us an idea on how to set ours up!" She said, clasping her hands together. Katsuki looked at the girl before shrugging while Izuku and Osore gestured to each other excitedly at the idea of showing off her room. Momo looked thoughtful before nodding at the logic while Tetsutetsu and Hitoshi looked at each other as they slowly realized something. None of them had seen Izuku's room yet. "I say... Katsuki should go first!"

"You don't start with a bang, you end on one, pass."

"I can go first!" Izuku said as she grabbed Ochaco's hands and they ran towards the Dormitories, once they did Katsuki looked at Hitoshi, who seemed thoughtful.  
Hitoshi nodded after a moment before smirking. "So, first things first I guess... keep an eye out during lunch tomorrow, that competitive guy from our class realized we're friends with you guys and wants to make a scene to prove Class 1-B should only trust it's fellow classmates," Hitoshi said, getting a scoff from Katsuki, only for Hitoshi to raise his hand. "In addition, he's started planning for the sports festival, he plans to use his copy quirk to get an idea of everyone's abilities, as well as try to show off how much better he is, as he put it."

"A for effort, F for the fact he's seriously underestimating us if he thinks a moment with our quirks is enough to outdo us with them," Katsuki said as he popped his neck. "Anyone else to worry about?"

"Honestly, no, the rest of them feel more in line with a friendly competition than a outfight battle between our classes... And send." Hitoshi said as the group entered into the main dormitory building. Shoto wondered who he sent that to, who would care about something like his favorite food? Did Hitoshi know the cooks... were there cooks? The group entered the third floor and Shoto followed them, where Ochaco was staring into an open door. "Huh... have any of us actually been in Izuku's room these ten months?"

Tetsutetsu shook his head. "Not me, Osore?" He said, only to get a shake of the head from Osore while Momo began to sweat a bit, Katsuki looked at her along with Hitoshi as Tenya rushed over to Ochaco and looked into the room, only to freeze up as well. At this point Shoto was slightly worried, was there blood, signs of her abuse... a knife next to a sink? He walked forward with purpose and looked between the two, only to go rigid as he realized what had the other two shocked.

Izuku was sitting on a thin mattress... set up on the bed of a mortuary cooler. "This is where I sleep, there's a set of handles inside I can use to pull myself in and push myself out, it keeps my bed nice and cool!" Izuku said before Katsuki shoved past both of them and walked up to Izuku. She looked at him for a moment before lying in the bed and pulling herself into the cooler. Katsuki grabbed the handle of the cooler and started to pull Izuku back out of the cooler, finding rather quickly that she was resisting. "Izuku is currently sleeping, come back when you're not gonna shake her like a shake weight."

"Izuku I swear to god, where did you even get this thing!?"

Momo walked in with shifty eyes, then picked up a large stuffed Gunhead with guns in its hands. "H-Hey, this is pretty cute right?" She said, getting a facepalm from Hitoshi as Ochaco and Osore came over and looked over the stuffed hero just in time for its eyes to light up. Katsuki started rattling Izuku's mortuary cooler bed in his attempts to pull her out while Tetsutetsu looked over the girl's desk, finding her hero journals and leafing through them. Shoto saw a different scene from the rest of them, a hero with guns, a bed designed like a mortuary that kept her safe from harm. His fists clenched tight, he saw what they were missing, the call for help. She thought the only way to save her was to kill her, that death would keep her safe.

He'd show her a different way, for now though, he had to play along. "So... I shouldn't get her a sleeping bag designed like a body bag?" Shoto said, only to get a dull look from Katsuki and a raised eyebrow from Hitoshi. He felt like he said something wrong, but it was a legitimate question right, she was sleeping in a cooler after all. Hitoshi rolled his eyes and walked over to Katsuki and Izuku. Meanwhile, Tetsutetsu walked over to him after putting a book down. "... Did I say something wrong?"

Tetsutetsu shook his head, and Shoto noticed he was barely containing his laughter. "No, that was great." He said as Izuku's bed shot out of the mortuary cabinet, knocking Katsuki to the floor with a blow to the cheek while Hitoshi put his face into his hands, which Momo coming over to pat him on the back as Osore struggled to wrap her arms around the gun-toting stuffed Gunhead while Ochaco reached over and activated her quirk on it. "I just don't think anyone expected you to be the funny man of our little group!"

"He could have been a voice of reason..." Hitoshi said as Momo rubbed his back. "Someone to keep everyone from being an idiot, instead he's the one throwing the punchlines when stupid things happen..."

"There there Hitoshi..."

* * *

Kurogiri stood at the bar, washing out a glass to keep his hands busy while Tomura sat in front of him playing the handheld game system, exaggerated sounds of metal against metal and roaring fires emanating from the thing. They had called Himiko in for a job, some prep work that needed to be done before the attack on the school could go forward. She wasn't late exactly, but he knew Tomura was getting impatient as his button presses started to click louder, and he didn't want to deal with the man after he disintegrated the game by accident.

"Hello!" Himiko Toga said as she came into the bar and waved with a knife in hand. She wasn't late, though having worked with the two for a while she was sure Tomura was upset with her, she liked playing games with the big baby with baby blue hair. He was the sort that thought he was all that and part of her enjoyed making him feel people didn't really respect him. Granted, not many of the villains they'd hired did respect him, they held more respect for Kurogiri as well as the fact that Giran was generally reliable so long as money was involved. They feared Tomura, mostly because they thought her actions were his idea, not her trying to ruin them before they could even consider hurting her Izuku.

Kurogiri looked at the girl, she was dressed in the black bodysuit and wearing the blood draining equipment they'd gotten her. She had been aware enough to get ready before coming in at the last second, which meant she'd done it on purpose. He didn't like that, Tomura was bad enough as it was and her attempts to yank his chain on a regular basis only made things worse. That said she was useful and would make getting what they needed much easier, they just needed the right blood for her to use.

"Kurogiri, warp us to the objective," Tomura said as he stood up, his game saved and the system resting on the counter. Kurogiri nodded and the mist that made up most of his body expanded, filling the room and creating a warp point between their location and an alleyway near a local news station. Once there he pulled himself back together and Tomura turned to Himiko. "Alright, so, we've got to get into UA at the right time, that means getting in to get the current schedule so we know right times to show up," Tomura said as his hands came up to his neck, scratching softly at the scarred flesh. "That means we need a disguise, and this news station has the perfect one, a general studies student who just recently graduated and is letting people know he's going to get the big scoop on All-Might being a teacher."

Himiko nodded as she checked her draining system, making sure she'd cleaned it properly. While having old blood wouldn't ruin the effects of her quirk she hardly wanted a clot in the pipes. Everything looked clean, and Kurogiri continued where Tomura left off. "We had some of the others investigate, as it turns out the student, To Otoko, realized his files in the high school are keeping the system from sounding an alert when he's inside, a result of a villain attack that launched him over the UA walls. An attack we had set up to see if old students could walk in." He said as Tomura pressed his hand flat on the wall, causing it to crumble away. "Find them, get them here quietly."

She grinned and ran through the hole in the wall, they had broken in through the bathroom it seemed. She found a vent and shook her head, office ventilation systems weren't big enough. Instead, she focused on her quirk, bringing out the form of the 'gentleman thief' she'd drank the blood of after he thought he'd be able to help the league of villains by his hypnosis quirk. She decided he'd be too useful and taken him down, but on the plus side, his outfit was a three-piece suit. Once she'd taken that form she moved through the building. "You all better start learning a bit of respect, soon I'll be bringing in the biggest scoop of the decade, maybe the century!" She heard someone say, and grinned, this sounded like it'd be an easy mark. She followed the voice to a young man with pale skin, curly brown hair, and dull mud-colored eyes. He had large circular glasses. He had a white suit and pants, with a black vest and red tie.

"Excuse me, To Otoko right?" She said, a male voice coming out as a result of the transformation. The man looked straight at her, his glasses now reflecting the light from the nearby window. She looked him over again, skinny, unassuming, boring black loafers, she could work with that. "Could you follow me, I'm from UA and we were wondering if you'd like to come in for an interview of the staff."

Boring man looking for a way to become exciting, confidence bolstered upon realizing he had a way to get that exciting info and then receiving an offer to get it easily. Just as she expected, he didn't ask questions, walking up to her with a big 'I told you so' grin as he looked over his peers before following her. "There are camera's everywhere, so we're going to head out for some fresh air," Himiko said as she led him out of the building and back into the alley. He noticed the hole in the wall too late, if the look of fear that only intensified as she spun and jabbed a syringe into his neck was anything to go by. As he was drained Tomura came out of hiding and put a hand on his back, causing his skin to rot and disintegrate as Kurogiri put a warp portal over the man's head so his screams would go unnoticed in an empty room back at headquarters. Soon To Otoko was gone, and Himiko was in his place.

"Stay here, get comfortable, tomorrow we'll set up a break in for the reporters to use, go in with them then break away and get the schools schedule," Tomura said, and Himiko nodded as she put the syringe between her lips, squirting the blood it had just drained into her mouth and letting her drink it as Kurogiri warped himself and Tomura back to base. At least now she'd get some private time to imagine what it'd be like to play with Izuku's body. She walked back into the office and found his desk, it was rather plain, save for a wicker bowl and a small wind-up toy puppy the size of her thumb. She twisted the wind-up key and set it down in the bowl, letting it roam around as she did busy work to keep herself from getting caught.

She had a big day tomorrow, it was time to get ready for that.

* * *

 _ **Omake : Just Girly things**_

Izuku looked at the picture Ochaco had sent her, it was an image of a boy and a girl holding each other close with the caption. **Warming up in the morning with your boy. #JustGirlyThings.** She looked over at Katsuki, who was doing push ups, with Momo drinking a cup of hot chocolate before smiling. "Momo, could you take a picture for me?"

Ochaco looked at her phone with a hand over her mouth, holding back giggles while looking at the image Momo had sent her on Izuku's behalf.

It showed Momo smiling at the camera as she took a picture of Izuku wrestling Katsuki to the ground, who looked panicked and enraged while Izuku grinned from ear to ear.

 **#JustGirlyThings**


	16. Presidents Villains and Emergency Exits

_Welcome to UA Arc : Presidents Villains and Emergency Exits, Oh My!_

* * *

Izuku swung her legs a bit as she sat behind Katsuki, homeroom would start soon. She wondered what Shota would go over before they moved onto their daily classes, figuring his not being at the desk in his sleeping bag meant he was out dealing with something. Across the room, Ochaco and Tenya were talking about something, but she couldn't hear it.

Minoru was behind her, his book on the desk as he looked over his homework, making sure he got everything. "... Damn it, how did I mess that one up!?"

Minoru said as he pulled out a pencil and redid one of the problems, getting Momo, who was behind him, to peak over his head. She looked at it then pulled out her homework and found the same problem before nodding and putting it back away.

Shoto was writing in a journal, it was the first time she'd seen it with him, but she'd only known him for about three days. He took looks at them as he wrote, maybe it was like her hero journals, but about people around him?

"Great Gods, it's a madhouse out there, you'd think it was another training ruse by Mr. Aizawa if he didn't look pissed at them. Hell, even Mr. Yamada looked pissed!"

Izuku looked over at the classroom door to see the rest of her class coming in, with Denki being the one who spoke. His uniform was a bit disheveled like someone had grabbed him roughly, and his hair looked a shade darker than usual. Whoever grabbed him likely regretted that. Looking over the rest of her classmates it seemed like they were all in the same state, as if people had grabbed them or tugged at their clothes.

"Can you blame them, those reporters were kind of scary, even that normal looking one with the vest suit..."

"Did something happen?" Izuku said as Hanta sat down in the desk next to her, then bent forward and rested his chin against the desk. He looked annoyed at something, but she wasn't sure what it was.

He turned his head to her as if he didn't understand why she'd ask before his eyes widened with understanding. "Right, you live in the dorms, you didn't have to wade through all those leeches just to get here. Maybe I should mention that to my parents, get into the dorms too..." Hanta said before he straightened up at his desk and started fixing his uniform. "Outside of the school, there's a horde of reporters and their camera crews waiting to try and drag out the next big scoop with All-Might working here as a teacher."

Izuku blinked at Hanta while Katsuki groaned, realizing what was keeping their teacher, just in time for Shota to come into the room, looking more tired than usual. "Alright, everyone settle down. I probably don't need to say this but don't worry about the reporters, just ignore them if they talk to you. If they make getting home a hassle just call the school, one of the teachers will be dispatched." He said before pulling out some papers from his scarf like capture weapon. "Now, onto a quick review of yesterdays hero activity, Shoto, Katsuki, both of you need to learn when you're going too far. There's a time to up the power and a time to back off and fight with more strategy than just 'make it bigger'. All-Might may have been slow to reach but he won't be next time."

"Momo, Aoyama, you two did well reacting to a bad situation but it wouldn't have gone bad in the first place if you'd taken the moment before the fight started to realize Izuku and Minoru were setting up an ambush. You were too quick to rush in and it ended making one of you barely able to do more than pray and shoot." He said before looking at Minoru and Izuku. "As for you, Izuku, Minoru, both of you also went a bit far. While I can appreciate the fact you both tried to act like villains and even created a villainous aesthetic, the fact that the blood was real Izuku is a bit far for a classroom setting. That you also used your Pop-Off quirk to the point of bleeding Minoru is also an issue, not to mention that while bouncing around the room was clever, one miscalculation would have smashed you against concrete. Bit of leap for a day one maneuver, scrap it for now."

He continued, pointing out what we did well, and what we shouldn't have done.

"Finally, Eijiro, Mezo... I actually can't say much about your strategy's failings except to keep a closer eye on your enemies, it wouldn't have gotten difficult if you'd ensured Hanta stayed down. That said do refrain from using that method again, Sekijiro spends too much time on the internet and most of the staff couldn't stop laughing after he called out 'Look at him, he's gonna beat those motherfuckers with another motherfucker.'"

Katsuki immediately burst into laughter at the thought while the rest of the class held back snickers, Izuku included. "Alright, calm down you brats. Now, you all have an assignment today." Shota said as the laughter died down. Izuku wondered what the assignment would be, teamwork tests with Class 1-B, remodeling of their costumes after experiencing battle for the first time in them, sparring with the teachers? "You all need to pick out a class president to represent Class 1-A."

Everyone in the class shouted, all saying 'So normal!' in some way or another before they all got excited about the idea.

"Pick me, I can do it!" Hanta said, grinning widely enough that his lower teeth could be seen.

"No, me, I'm the most daz-" Aoyama was interrupted by a pair of pink hands pushing him face first into his desk.

"I want to be the class president!" Mina said, leaning over Aoyama.

"Obviously it should be me!" Toru said, her uniform bouncing around.

"Let me be representative, I promise to only impose rules to help keep everyone from looking at our female classmates with dirty eyes and minds. As a dirty minded boy trying to get clean, I know all the things boys don't want to stare at!" Minoru said, standing on top of his desk.

"Dude where is your pride, if I was president I'd make a rule that says all skirts should only be at most thirty centimeters long!" Denki said, getting a mild glare from Kyoka.

Izuku laughed nervously as everyone started to argue with each other, this was starting to get hectic. Katsuki turned to Izuku and saw the look on her face, then looked at Shota, who looked ready to shut everyone down. Katsuki held up a hand, palm to the ceiling, and activated his quirk.

 _ **BOOM!**_

"Shut the fuck up and calm the hell down you idiots!" Katsuki said as everyone winced and stopped shouting at the loud sound his explosive quirk created. "We're all heroes in training, not kids squabbling over a fucking plastic shovel in a sandbox, fucking act like it!"

Tenya stood up at that point. "That's right, while I disagree with Katsuki's vocabulary-"

"Oh, up yours Four-eyes!"

"- I do agree that we should all stop and go about this in an orderly fashion, heroes exist to try and bring an end to chaos, not be the cause of it!" He said, brought a hand up and chopped down at the air in front of him, his hand pointing at Shota. "That's why we should decide this with a democratic vote, right sir?"

"Do whatever you want, I'm going to sleep," Shota said, having already wrapped his sleeping bag around himself and was zipping it shut. There was a moment of silence as they watched their teacher drop to the ground and close his eyes, then Denki spoke.

"While it seems like a good idea on paper, only a few of us actually know each other. Instead of a fair vote, we'll just see the majority vote for themselves while the one group of friends decides amongst themselves who would be best suited for the job." Denki said, gesturing towards Izuku and her friends. "The rest of us wouldn't actually have a chance."

Shoto looked up from his journal and closed it. "Perhaps that's what makes them best suited for the position, they've made friends with students from other classes already. They've already started representing us and in a way that allows for comradery between classes rather than hostility." He said, putting the journal he'd been writing under his desk as the class focused on him. "We need a representative that doesn't just show just how much we want to become heroes to the rest of the school but also doesn't intimidate or scare other students. We can be the best students U.A. has ever seen and if we graduate hated by everyone we'll never make it past minor sidekick."

"He has a good point, Endeavor currently has a more active track record than All-Might, and is close to overtaking him for sheer amount of crimes stopped, but he's number two on the polls due to having the worst public image... without getting into legal trouble anyway," Rikido said, causing Minoru's head to spin towards him.

"Wait, legal trouble, does that actually happen?"

Izuku nodded at Minoru's question. "It does, though it's pretty rare as most governments and hero agencies will go as far as they can to protect their heroes and prevent truly awful publicity, in order to make heroes seem infallible. It's only been about one hundred or so years since quirks first manifested, but there's always been at least one hero of the generation who turns out bad." She said as she grabbed her bookbag and unzipped it, pulling out one of her journals, Hero Analysis for the Future, Volume 9. She flipped through the pages until she got to Captain Celebrity's page and held it up. "Captain Celebrity is the most recent case, he was the top ranking hero in America before it was revealed that he's a major pervert who would use the publicity of taking down big villains to hide the fact he would try to win favors from the women he saved. He moved her to Japan after a number of women, and some men, banded together to let the world know what he'd done to them, and the government was forced to start taking action."

"Shouldn't he be in jail then?" Mezo said, Izuku opened her mouth to respond but Katsuki responded first.

"For that to happen, America's leaders would have to negotiate to extradite him from our shores to theirs. It might not seem like much but when you consider the fact that Celebrity was the best hero they had, how difficult it is to capture a flight-capable hero with super strength, the time and money it'd cost to get enough heroes, equipment, and secure transport, all the while keeping it quiet so the same sort of reporters outside don't try to squeeze in a picture and then ruin everything because they were in the way." He said, making Izuku nod with a bit of a pout, she'd wanted to say that. "It's cheaper for everyone to let Celebrity continue being a hero with his true colors aired out for everyone to see so he can't trick people anymore, and put a permanent mark on his record so no matter what he does, he always makes less than what any other hero would get for the same work."

Kyoka grinned a bit while her earlobe jacks rose up like serpents towards Denki. "So... what was that comment about our skirts...?"

"A-Ah, h-hey now, that was just a jo-ow!"

"We're getting off track, how are we going to decide who's best for the job of representative!?" Ochaco said, standing up and slapping her hands on her desk, then looking down and tapping her fingers together. "We'll look really bad if everyone else has one and our class can't stop fighting long enough to pick one!"

"Why just one?" Izuku said, getting everyone to look at her again, she put her journal back into her bag. "If the problem is that those of us in the dorms will vote for each other while the people housed outside of the school will only vote for themselves, then why not have two representatives, one from the dorms and one from outside of school?"

"Two sets of votes... it's perfect!" Tenya said. "Of course, it would allow for two viewpoints, from inside the school and outside of it, to be taken into account, your ability to see the bigger picture is as flawless as ever!"

"I'm not that great..."

"It's settled, we'll start with a vote for an interior representative, then vote for an exterior representative!" Tenya said as he rushed to the board and started writing down names. "Please, cast your votes!"  
Izuku looked at her friends for a bit, before writing a name down on a piece of paper and handing it to Tenya. Others followed suit, and soon the votes were being counted while the process was repeated for the second set.

"Alright, so, representing our class will be Izuku Midoriya and Tsuyu Asui!"

"W-Wait, me!?" Izuku said as she looked at the results, she had three votes, and Tsuyu had two. Tsuyu walked over to the front while Tenya, realizing he hadn't gotten a vote, went over to his desk. Momo looked at the votes and saw she had two, if she hadn't been in the dorms she'd probably be vice president herself. "Why me?"

"Come on, get up there Izuku." Katsuki said as he stood up and half dragged her to the front of the classroom. He could guess who voted for her, and he didn't blame them. Still, if attention was going to be focused on Izuku he needed to up his game, make sure people were either scared of getting close to her or saw her on a high enough pedestal they didn't try. "It was your idea."

Izuku looked at her feet as she stood in front of everyone, Tsuyu next to her. She personally thought Momo or Tenya might be a good option, she didn't think she was ready for something like this, what if she screwed up? She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned towards it, finding Tsuyu holding her shoulder. "You'll be great, ribbit."

She certainly hoped so...

* * *

Himiko grinned as she walked through U.A's administration building, she'd gotten in and thanks to her disguise still having his U.A. Uniform, she looked to be a student, albeit a rather large student. Not that someone could use that, she could claim it was a mutation of her quirk. All she needed to do was wait, soon an alarm would go off and she'd be able to give Kurogiri her location.

He'd warp in and they'd get everything she needed, where to find Izuku, where to capture Izuku, where to play with Izuku. She could hardly wait, where was Tomura's overzealous need to cause terror when you needed it...

She heard the bell ring for classes go to lunch, and giggled to herself. Showtime.

* * *

"Wait, both of you voted for me?" Izuku said, in front of her was a large ham shank, complete with a small bone that she could use as a handle. On the other side of the cafeteria table, Tenya looked somewhat embarrassed while Ochaco nodded happily, her cheeks puffed up as she chewed her rice. "Why me, I mean, Katsuki's a lot more pushy about making people train and Momo's literally trained for this sort of thing..."

Ochaco swallowed as Tenya straightened his glasses. "Maybe, but where Momo is trained you aren't, yet you still manage to know what to do regardless. I decided to go with my heart in this situation rather than my mind, seeing as it led me astray during the entrance exams!" Tenya said, while Ochaco nodded and used her chopsticks to get another clump of white rice.

"Plus, Katsuki's... not exactly good with people, he'd probably use his quirk on the other representatives," Ochaco said before sticking the clump of rice into her mouth. Izuku pouted a bit, while she wasn't unhappy about being class representative. If anything it was actually really good for her record. Still, that kind of responsibility was well beyond what she wanted this early into her time at U.A., was she ready? "By the way, Tenya, you always seem really articulate when you talk, are you from a rich family?"

"That's... I was hoping it wouldn't be noticed." He said as Izuku bit into her ham shank, her eyes going white as the taste of pork hit her tongue. She started rapidly biting and ripping at the large chunk of meat, eating very noisily as Tenya cleared his throat. "Indeed, I come from a line of heroes, every member of my family has taken up the mantle of Hero or Heroine, paving the way to a better future for us all, for example, do you know of the hero Ingenium?"

Ochaco nodded as Izuku tore a large chunk of ham from her ham shank, the piece larger than her head as she chewed, slowly pulling it into her mouth with her lips and teeth as she swallowed small pieces she bit off. There was murmuring all around them as people started to notice how the girl was eating while Tenya and Ochaco missed what was happening, caught up in conversation. "Well, he's my older brother!"

"Wow, that must be amaz- Oh my god Izuku you're going to choke!" Ochaco said as Izuku started to ripped up the last chunk of pork flesh from the bone, chewing and swallowing at the same time as the long strip of ham disappeared into her mouth. As she did an alarm blared through the cafeteria, snapping Izuku out of her eating frenzy. Her eyes went down, able to see some of the pork still sticking straight out of her mouth, and started chewing again. "Izuku!"

"Wa, dmm wm oo ws fd." Izuku said through the meat in her mouth before Tenya grabbed her arm as well as Ochaco's, finding a senior student.

"Excuse me, what is that alarm for!?"

"It's a Level Three, it means someone's broken into the school!" The boy said as Izuku swallowed the last of her meat.

"Broken in?" Izuku said before Tenya started pulling them towards the hall. "H-Hey, wait, stop, we're gonna get stuck!"

Tenya stopped and looked at her, then his eyes widened as he looked at the hall out of the cafeteria. As Izuku had said everyone was trying to push through the hall but were getting trapped by one another, he grit his teeth. "Damn, why didn't I think of that!?"

She pulled her arm from Tenya's grip and ran over to the window, looking for the danger. She was curious what could break into U.A. of all places, it had always seemed like an impenetrable fortress. Izuku pressed her face against the glass and looked around, but didn't see any villains, just a woman who looked a bit lost. Then the woman noticed Izuku in the window and took a picture.

"It's... the media?" Izuku said, thoroughly confused, then she turned to Tenya and Ochaco. "It's just the media, they're panicking over nothing, someone could get trampled over some overzealous reporters!"

"We have to let them know, but how?" Ochaco said as Tenya looked down the hallway, there was a surprising lack of giants in the hallway, they must have used their size to get out. Without them he had a clear shot at the ledge formed by the doorway, he could get their attention from there but without a ramp he'd just get stuck in the chaos.

Izuku could get up there with her quirk, but he had the feeling her hands flying across the hallway would only enhance the panic.

He remembered his grip around Ochaco's arm, and let go of her before grabbing her hands. Ochaco's eyes widened at the gesture as Tenya pulled her over to him and put her hands on his chest. "Please, activate your quirk and throw me over the others, I can get their attention from the doorway!"

"Sure whatever you say just let go of my hands!" Ochaco said, her face as red as a cherry as she unwillingly ended up feeling up Tenya's chest, and just how tight his uniform fit around it. _'It's like concrete!'_

Ochaco slapped Tenya's hands and then pushed him away, her face still red as the somewhat confused Tenya floated over the heads of the other students. Izuku watched him flail a bit before the boy activated his quirk and started spinning like a sawblade towards the exit. She relaxed, realizing Tenya would be able to calm everyone down.

"A blue-haired speeder spinning his way to the finish line, do I even need a punchline at that point?"

Izuku blinked and turned around along with Ochaco, seeing a fellow student behind them. He had blond hair which parted at the left and blue eyes with white pupils. He looked smug, and Ochaco instinctively took a step forward and to the side, getting ready to put herself between the boy and Izuku. "Hey now, I'm just happy to see someone is smart enough to realize the exit was going to be clogged with idiots. My name is Neito Monoma, and you're Izuku Midoriya right?" He said, getting a nod from Izuku, his grin grew wider and Ochaco looked guarded. "I wonder... are you happy?"

"Huh?"

"With all this chaos you've been causing?" Neito said, gesturing around them, Itsuka had decided on having the rest of Class 1-B move through the hall in an orderly fashion just for the other students to ruin it, so she wouldn't be interrupting him. He held a hand out to Izuku. "Sure, All-Mights here but would they really be this bold unless they knew there was more than just him. However, there's also the one story they all missed nearly a year ago, Izuku Midoriya's fateful origin story, filled with blood."

Ochaco moved between him and Izuku, slapping the boy's hand away only for him to grab her and the familiar feeling of weightlessness to envelop her before she was tossed away. "H-Hey, what's going on!?"

Neito closed his eyes for a moment as he processed the minor changes in his mind, he felt the fear of falling disappear, the idea of floating with clouds become mundane. He opened his eyes and refocused on Izuku, who looked scared. He decided to keep going. "I have to say, they really seem to favor Class 1-A with those, the son of Endeavor, the explosive boy whose parents had just the right quirks to give a boy from a place filled with worthless quirks a chance at stardom, the youngest scion of the Iida family, and the little girl who managed to survive a literal horror story, soaked in blood." He said as Ochaco tried to deactivate the anti-gravity Neito had copied from her. Izuku shook her head as she remembered running through bloody halls with Kokku, of running into Rakshoni before they could get somewhere safe.

"Despite the main villain not only surviving but becoming interested in you, you get a room at U.A., a spot in class 1-A, All-Might becomes a teacher just in time to teach you, and you're surrounded by all of the recommendation students... man, what I wouldn't give to be in your position..."

Tears rolled down Izuku's cheeks as she remembered Rakshoni throwing her against a wall, the back of her skull cracking for a moment before muscle strings reinforced the area to prevent her skull from cracking further. She closed her eyes. "No, it was, it was horrible..."

"You must have a luck quirk to get such a once and a lifetime opportunity to prove yourself to the pros!"

She can practically feel the rotten taste of Rakshoni's flesh as she relived biting into his shoulder to keep him away from Kokku, the feeling of his fingers wrapping around her body and a sudden tightness around her stomach as he started to pull her apart.

"It must have been the best day of your life!"

Izuku's eyes flew open, wide as can be as she flashed back to Kokku's terrified and broken face, heartache in the woman's eyes as Izuku felt her stomach and spine finally give and tear apart, cold air enveloping her intestines before a sudden crushing pain before everything went dark and numb. Everything coming back with the taste and smell of iron, Kokku's dull and dead eyes looking at her, her killer complaining about pain.

 _W_ **h** _Y **D** o_ _i G **Et** t_ **O** c _ **o**_ me _ B_A _ **CK**_

"I bet you were excited to fight them, weren't y-"

Izuku snarled as tears rolled down her cheeks, her eyes a glossy white as she buried a fist into Neito's stomach. "Shut up!" She said, the hit bent Neito around her arm before he flew back, crashing into the nearest cafeteria tablet and breaking it in half before bouncing off the floor and slamming into another table. The air bent and spun around from the force of the blow, pushing Ochaco further away and causing her to scream in panic.

* * *

Hitoshi glared angrily at the second year who was trying to shove his way through him. "Everyone, please give me your attention!" Tenya said, getting Hitoshi to look up and see the blue-haired boy using the rods and ledges of the door to stand up above everyone, looking like that silhouette on an emergency exit sign. Miraculously everyone actually did calm down, Hitoshi was pretty sure it was His quirk that took over peoples minds. "It's just the media, we're not in danger, please head back to class in an orderly fashion!"

"Hey, he's right!" One student said, Hitoshi couldn't see much but based on his voice the boy was likely being pressed against the glass.

"Seriously, what the hell!?"

Hitoshi let out a breath as people started to slowly move through the doors and stop shoving, then he noticed Itsuka looking confused. "Hey, something wrong?" He said, and Itsuka looked annoyed. He did a quick headcount and realized what she did, they were missing someone. They were missing the last person that should be left alone to his own devices in the middle of a possible crisis.

"Yeah, is Neito near y-"

"Shut up!"

He heard flesh crashing into flesh, then metal and concrete. That was Izuku's voice... oh Shit. "That damned idiot! Hey, you all fucking suck!" Hitoshi said, prepping his quirk as he turned around and gave everyone between him and the cafeteria the middle finger. The response was instantaneous, much to his relief.

"What was tha-..."

"Screw y-..."

"Take the finger and go fu-..."

"Jacka-..."

"Move!" He said as he felt a major migraine coming on, already seeing haloes around the fluorescent lights as overuse of his quirk started to get to him. "Get out of my way, now! I swear I'm going to kick that idiot!"

"Hitoshi what are you-" Tetsutetsu said before Hitoshi grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"Neito's back there, with Izuku!"

* * *

Neito struggled to get back up, before coughing up spit and bile, everything hurt and his mind was twisting and confused. Why did that hurt, it was just a punch, why did he feel so fragile, like death was actually a stopping point. Death is just another experience, not an end. Why did everything hurt, it wasn't fire, just a punch- His thoughts stopped for a moment and his ears started ringing as something struck his face and threw him onto his side, where he started sliding across the floor. Despite the ringing in his ears he could hear screaming, incoherent and mindless screaming.

There was a sudden and extreme weight on his chest, forcing all the air in his lungs out with a bloody spray, something cracked. Why weren't his muscles fixing that, since when do muscles not fix that, since when did death matter, since when did hits like this hurt? Neito's eyes widened even further as he realized something, he'd copied Izuku's quirk and didn't get any powers, just a total disregard for injury expecting his body to put itself back together.

But his body wasn't doing it, was there was some activation method he wasn't using, is it a berserker quirk, regeneration, something he needed to focus on to active her quirk? _'All I need to do is die, then everything will be alright.'_

Why did he just think that!?

Any further thoughts were cut off as Izuku's fists came down, pummeling him, all he could do was try and activate Tetsutetsu's quirk, having brushed up against him as he separated from the rest of the class to go after the isolated Class 1-A students.

Ochaco watched in horror as Izuku's shins pinned down Neito's arms and she sat on his chest, swinging her arms and fists down on the boy's chest, shoulders, and face like large flails. Izuku was screaming in rage, but there was more, Ochaco felt tears prickling at her eyes the more Izuku screamed. It was more than rage, it was horror, sorrow, Pain.

"Izuku, please stop!" Ochaco said, barely able to hear herself over Izuku's screams, she started to sob. The girl didn't listen, just continuing to bash at the blond who had instigated this. "Izuku!"

* * *

Katsuki's eyes went wide when he heard Izuku scream for someone to shut up, he turned and used his explosion to leap over the extra's that were trying to escape from the alarm. His body shivered as he heard her scream. 'She's hurt, she's hurt, she's hurt she's hurt she's hurt she's hurt!'

He used another blast to get out of the hallway and into the cafeteria, Hitoshi pushing his way into the room with Tetsutetsu soon after. He could see a floating Ochaco screaming for Izuku to stop whaling on some kid. He heard Tetsutetsu curse as Hitoshi looked at Izuku. "Hey, what the fuck!?" Katsuki said, and Hitoshi ran forward towards Izuku while Tetsutetsu turned to Katsuki.

"Remember the competitive guy we mentioned, I'm pretty sure he just decided to start pressing random buttons to see how Izuku would react!" Tetsutetsu said, getting a low growl of rage from Katsuki, he couldn't get close when she was like this, she needed comfort and that wasn't his forte.

Hitoshi could barely hear himself think over Izuku's screams, he hoped Neito wasn't dead because he could, in fact, see blood flying at this point.

"Izuku!" He said, rushing towards the girl and grabbing her arm. She whirled towards him and her scream was turned to him, it registered as enough and he let his quirk take control while relinquishing control over the other students.

Before he felt pain from the sheer number of minds, but this, it was like being buried in snow, like his blood had been replaced with ice water and yet his heart burned, his mind sparkled with rage. What had that idiot said to get her into such an apocalyptic rage that he could feel it so clearly through the link that gave him control over her. "Calm down, come here."

He said, he felt a strain on his mind, she was pushing against his quirk. How did he get Izuku so mad, what the actual fuck!?

An image flew through the link, a bloody, broken, and dead Kokku, their physical instructor from the clinic.

 _That bastard!_

His own anger started to breathe fire into his veins as tears formed around his eyes, of all the things to taunt someone about, why that!? Now he understood, now it made sense, but he couldn't let her continue. "Calm... down..." He said, biting out the words as if saying them physically stung. They left a bad taste in his mouth, asking her to stop beating on the idiot who pushed her into having a panic attack of this magnitude.

She started to stand, and then walked towards him, he felt the anger in the link start to lessen but kept a hard grip on her mind as he pulled her into a hug. "I'm right here... it's over..." He said, slowly letting go of her mind as her anger gave way into despair and sorrow. Ochaco fell to the floor and Hitoshi chanced a look at Neito, his skin turning from metal back to normal skin. However the metal was cracked, and as he released Tetsutetsu's quirk those cracks translated to cuts.

He felt a warm wet sensation on his back as Izuku clung on tight and started bursting into sobs. The blood had been her own, having beaten her own arms bloody trying to hurt whatever she saw in the place of Neito.

The two of them would have words, this was beyond competitive.

"What happen- Oh my god, someone call Recovery Girl, now!"

Hitoshi looked up to see Midnight and a number of the other teachers come into the cafeteria. He held Izuku tighter as they rushed over.

They would have words.

* * *

Himiko skipped into the nearby alleyway, outside of U.A. and still wearing her reporter costume. Kurogiri had decided to deposit the two of them a bit of a walk from HQ. After they'd walked for a bit he'd warp them again, and again, and again until he decided enough was enough and warped to the base with her. In her hands was a set of papers, revealing All-Might's schedule as well as Izuku's, and as it turned out they'd have a perfect opportunity to get her soon.

She grinned as her disguise melted away and Kurogiri's fog enveloped her and stole her away to a different alleyway. She wondered how Izuku would react, the plan would be beautiful really. They all come to kidnap Izuku, All-Might appears only to get murdered before her eyes, as Tomura cackles and forces her to watch the hero's last breath Himiko would save the day, slashing the dumb, sky haired boys throat before drinking All-Mights blood and becoming him. Himiko would become her hero reborn, and defeat the tired weapon and take Izuku away into the dark dark places, hiding her away as she reveals who she truly is. Izuku would become hers and she would be Izuku's, Izuku would be her toy, her fun, her friend, and she would be Izuku's safety, her hero, her caretaker.

"You've done well for yourself, becoming such an integral part of Tomura's plan, evolving his plan, finding him followers..." Kurogiri said, breaking Himiko out of her fantasies. She growled and looked at the man, how dare he interrupt her Izuku Thoughts, those were her favorite thoughts! She took a few breathes to calm down before grinning up at the man, if he had eyebrows she had the feeling he'd be raising one at her. "And now this, perfectly executed... tell me, what are you really after?"

He could at least try to make it difficult. "I just want my Izuku, my precious, bloody, beautiful Izuku, I want to play with her, I want to be her!" Himiko said, getting a wince from Kurogiri. True, he was a villain and he'd hardly shy away from killing children, but it wasn't exactly his style. He'd leave that to other villains and then stay out of it, Himiko's open desire to torture a fellow young girl was a bit... disturbing, even for him. "She really is beautiful covered in blood and cuts..."

"I see..."

Himiko giggled, he really didn't, but she'd let him think that... mostly because she wasn't sure how to kill him yet.

Another warp gate formed, and she walked through without fear.

She knew they needed her, too bad for them really... needing someone who will only betray you for another. It was so sad it made her want to laugh, and so she burst into laughter as she handed the papers to Tomura, who held them as though they were holy scriptures. Soon his laughter joined hers, and she imagined how it would sound when her blade forced blood into the mix.

* * *

A few days had passed since the incident. Izuku was in her hero outfit outside of the main school along with her classmates, with Tenya and Tsuyu at either side of the entrance of a bus. It was already time for foundational hero studies, and according to Shota they were going to a special location to learn under him, All-Might, and another hero.

"Everyone, please form two rows!" Tenya said, Tsuyu standing next to him as they prepared to board the bus. Izuku fell into line as she remembered how he'd become class president.

 _Izuku sat outside of the nurse's office, next to her were her friends, each of them trying to cheer her up, let her know things would be alright. She knew better, she'd lost control of her temper, a temper she didn't even know she had, and attacked a fellow student. Soon the door opened and Nezu walked out of the nurse's office, he looked at Izuku who in turn looked at him. "Neito Monoma will make a full recovery, his copying of Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu's quirk allowed him to withstand the brunt of your assault. Most of his injuries came from the first hits, that said, what exactly triggered this episode. You're not the sort to attack someone, Izuku Midoriya."_

 _"Sir-"_

 _"I asked Ms. Midoriya, Ochaco Uraraka, allow her to speak."_

 _Izuku choked back a sob as she curled into herself, images flashing through her mind again. "... He started talking about the clinic, calling me lucky to have been there... Said I must have been excited..."_

 _Nezu nodded, then pulled out a cigarette and held it up, her friends stared at it for a moment before Neu rolled his eyes and pulled out his own lighter to ignite the tip. "I figured as much, but I needed to hear it from you." He said, taking a drag from his cigarette before blowing the smoke up and away the students so it wouldn't get into their lungs. "However, this still can't go unpunished, as such you will be on probation for the next week, one false move and regardless as to why you'll be suspended or expelled. In addition you will no longer be Class 1-A's representative, instead, I'll be bestowing that honor onto you, Tenya Iida."_

 _"W-what?"_

 _Nezu nodded. "Your actions calming down the students were a fine example of how a student representative should act, as such, you will be Class 1-A's representative from now on." He said as he looked at the students, then focused on Izuku again. "Now, I think it's time you all went back to class, we'll be ending the school day somewhat early so we can revise the school's defenses. Take care now."_

So now she was just another student again, sort of, she was still a zombie, and still on probation. Thankfully that had been an isolated incident, Neito hadn't bothered her again nor had he gone after her friends yet. She rubbed her neck where her guillotine choker had been, Katsuki had pulled it off of her neck the moment he saw it on her and blown it up. He didn't seem fond of the idea that she had equipment designed to cut off her head and took matters into his own hands. Momo had given her a red cloth choker to replace it with.

They climbed onto the bus and saw it wasn't a school bus but a public transit bus. She guessed it had been chosen so reporters wouldn't notice it on the road and start chasing them. Still, Tenya seemed to be angry with himself for not realizing it would be a public bus instead of a school bus. Everyone found a seat, She sat near the front on a cushioned bench against the wall, with Tsuyu and Rikido sitting next to her, while Eijiro sitting on the other side of Tsuyu. On the bench across from them sat Tenya, Mina, Aoyama, and Denki. The back of the bus had normal front-facing seats, room for two people to sit next to each other and three sets of seats on either side. Katsuki too a seat in the first of those sets, looking over Izuku with Kyoka sitting next to him, plugging her quirk into an MP3 player.

Behind them, Shoto sat alone and appeared to be taking a nap. In the back seat behind him was Mezo and Hanta, who seemed to be trying to relax. On the opposite side, Koji and Fumikage sat in the seats that overlooked the bench setting Tenya and the others, while Mashirao and Toru sat behind them. Finally, in the back seats across from Mezo and Hanta were Momo and Ochaco. "It was all for nothing then!" Tenya said, leaning over and holding his face in his hands, Izuku laughed a bit while Tsuyu nodded.

"Pretty much, ribbit." Tsuyu said before turning to Izuku. "By the way, Shoto mentioned you have friends in the other classes before, who was he referring to?"

Izuku smiled at the question. "Well, there's Hitoshi, Tetsutetsu, and Osore from Class 1-B, and Minoru knows Roy and Tsubame from Class 1-B too, we were the first residents of the U.A. dorms along with Momo and Kacchan." She said, listing off her friends. She felt a bit if pride saying their names, she didn't have many friends in middle school, so she enjoyed having a circle of friends now. "Momo and Osore are the ones who got the idea of tying my hair up in ribbons, and Momo taught me how to apply make-up... I need to start doing that more often..."

"You didn't know how to before?"

Izuku shook her head. "Not really, my mom helped me with make-up once but one of the girls at school disapproved, they forced it off with a toilet..." She said. Katsuki gripped his knee as he remembered that day, a bunch of girls joyously gloating about putting Izuku in her place with a swirly during their junior year. He felt a mild tingle in his hand as micro explosions started to burst, not big enough to create more than a mild sizzling noise, easily muffled by the sound of the bus itself. Katsuki then smirked as he remembered catching the girls in a hallway and purposely getting them to bump into him so he could personally deliver a bit of karma. "They never really bothered me after that... maybe they didn't like make-up or something?"

Rikido raised an eyebrow at her. "Couldn't you have just... I don't know, thrown her off and make her endure a swirly instead?" He said, poking Izuku's arm. "You're scary strong."

Izuku looked up at Rikido and shook her head, then pointed at the stitches across her hairline. "Nope, my quirk wasn't activated at the time, I wasn't a zombie until a little under a year ago."

"There it is again, calling yourself a zombie!" Eijiro said, curious as to why she always used that term. He was, as far as he knew, the newest member of the group of friends aside from Shoto, possibly Minoru too if you counted him. Sure she was a bit colder than most people and her skin was really pale, but surely she had more ideas than just zombie. "Why is it always zombies, do you like them or something?"

Izuku looked at Eijiro while Katsuki started to sit up straight, ready to try and shut down the conversation. "Oh, that's right, you don't know!" Izuku said before she grinned at them, getting a horrified look from Katsukim she wasn't about to explain it outright was she? "I didn't have a quirk until I died!"

"You What!?" Tenya said while Shoto's eyes shot open and he sat up. Did he hear that right, she... she died? Katsuki sighed while Ochaco looked to Momo, who nodded to her. "Y-You died!?"

"I am a zombie," Izuku said as the class stared at her. Katsuki leaned back into his seat, not enjoying the reminder.

Tsuyu reached out and put her hand around Izuku's wrist, getting a twitch from her. The frog girl noted Izuku's skin was cold to the touch and felt wrong. There was also a distinct lack of a pulse, so she put a pair of fingers over Izuku's jugular, still no pulse. "... I can't find a pulse." She said while Eijiro paled a bit. Yes, they'd been calling her a zombie for a while, her quirk was Patchwork Zombie, but he never thought the friendly girl had actually died and come back. He didn't even know quirks could do that! "I also don't feel any heat from her, it's like she's room temperature or something."

Shota listened as his class realized the girl had died at one point and decided to help explain. "Her quirk falls under a special category. Most people only know about the three primary classifications for quirks, Mutation, Transformation, and Emitter. Anyone with half a brain, however, will realize that quirks are a bit more complex than just three categories can begin to explain." He said, getting the classes attention. "For example, Mina, your quirk is Acid, and is classified as Emitter, but I'm sure most would agree you're also a mutant, given your pink skin, black sclera, and horns. Mezo has a mutation quirk, however, it also allows his arm to transform parts of his body. Fumikage has Dark Shadow, which is well beyond just an emitter as Dark Shadow is at the very least semi-sentient in its own right, and Fumikage's feathers and beak aren't exactly a removable transformation."

"At the same time, there's more than one sort of each type, Invisible quirks, for example, don't just mean Toru's invisibility. In fact, Toru's Invisibility is ironically classified as a Visible Mutation. Invisible quirks are abilities that don't change the appearance of the person who has them, even when active. There are other classifications as well. Natural State quirks are abilities you're born with, such as Toru's invisibility or Mashirao's tail, quirks that are primarily Mutation based are generally in this category, as well as fair amount of emitters. Others, like Katsuki's Explosion and Eijiro's Hardening, are Growth Activated, manifesting later in life when the person's body is capable of handling it, this is where you'll find most quirks Emitter or Transformation effects." Shota said as he gestured to the students he mentioned in his explanation. "Another type is Situationally Activated quirks, these kinds of quirks lie dormant until certain requirements are met, and are almost always a Transformation to Mutation type, with the occasional Emitter. As an example, the long hand classification for Katsuki's quirk would be Growth Activated, Visible Emitter Primary Invisible Mutation Secondary, while Izuku's would be Situationally Activated Transformation to Mutation, Visible Mutation Primary Visible Unconscious Emitter Secondary. Her muscle strings are formed by emitter type commands she doesn't consciously activate, but her body is heavy mutated on the inside while her skin and eyes have cosmetic mutations that classify it as visible."

Shota let the names sink in for a moment before continuing. "Furthermore, there's also a scale of Instability for each quirk, with level one being a quirk that has little effect to a person's psyche to a level ten being a quirk that induces insanity for the person unlucky enough to activate it. Mine is a class three, I tend not to blink without prompting and the idea that staring is rude is foreign to me. The only reason it's not a class one is that I get a bit of a kick out of watching people flounder around powerlessly, a temptation that makes using my quirk easier for me." Shota said as he dripped eyedrops into his eyes. "Similarly, Present Mic's quirk is listed as class two, his quirk makes him desire to be heard, and completely removes his understanding of indoor and outdoor volume changes, he's always loud. We have the lowest instability classifications of U.A.'s staff, and Principal Nezu I believe has the highest classification at class seven."

"I think Gunhead said my instability measured at class eight, mostly due to the fact that my mind doesn't wrap around the idea of death being a bad thing," Izuku said, to which Shota nodded.

"Any quirk that allows for suicidal thoughts is going to be Class Eight at minimum, Class Ten has only been recorded twice, both of which turned out to be villains, as such anyone who gets a class seven or higher is placed on a watch list by law and yes, I know everyone's classification," Shota said before a question could be asked. "None of you are Class one, only one of you is ranked at Class two, and most of you are class four through six. No, I don't think any of you can guess who the class two is."

"Koji?"

"Class five, try again."

"His quirk is talking to animals, how does that end up as a class five!?" Denki said, looking at Shota in disbelief, the man snorted in amusement when he realized none of them believed him.

"He can mind control anything that isn't human, how do you think his mind is warped enough for class five?" Shota said as the bus slowed down and everyone gave Koji a mildly wary look, to which the peach skinned boy just waved in response to. "Alright, get ready everyone, we're here."

Izuku walked out of the bus with everyone else, looking in awe at the large domed building in front of them. It was practically the size of a theme park, and Izuku immediately thought of Universal Studios Japan. The class was led into the building by Shota, and waiting for them was something Izuku could only describe as absolute chaos. There was a burning building, a flooded second with a large yacht, a small section of a city with a torrential downpour, a shaking Faultline, even a farmhouse with a tornado passing over it. Between them and the stairs to this chaos was a large astronaut, the Space Hero Thirteen, a rescue type hero with one of the most dangerous quirks in recent history. Izuku squealed and pulled out her notebook from her bookbag, Hero Analysis for the Future Volume Ten, page one hundred and thirty was where she'd entered her notes on the hero, she couldn't wait for them to sign it.

"It's Space Hero Thirteen!" Ochaco said, getting a happy nod from Izuku. Shota looked around and noticed a certain teacher wasn't with them. He went up to Thirteen and raised an eyebrow at them.

"Hey... where's All-Might, isn't he supposed to be joining us?"

Thirteen held up three fingers and shook their head. "It seems he hit his limit on the way in today, there's been a bit of a rise in crime around the area." Thirteen said, getting a groan from Shota, honestly, the man has given a teaching job so he wouldn't have to use as much of his time and instead he wastes it all during the commute?

"Of all the illogical... alright, let's get this over with," Shota said before turning around and walking back to the students with Thirteen walking beside him. "Alright, so, I'll let Thirteen take it from here, listen up."

"Hello, I've only really got one thing to say, or two, or three... four? Well, you all probably know about my quirk, Black Hole." Thirteen said. Izuku nodded with Ochaco and was about to talk about it when Ochaco beat her to it.

"It lets you suck up debris from disasters, freeing people from underneath rubble too big to move!" Ochaco said, getting a pout from Izuku, there was so much more to Thirteens quirk. Still the astronaut nodded and held up a finger, letting everyone see how their fingertip was a different color from the rest of their suit.

"Right, with it everything that gets close enough is reduced to mere atoms, so as you can imagine it's great for rescuing people... it's also perfect for mass murder." Thirteen said, immediately bringing the mood down. Izuku figured the hero had a point, powerful suction that led to atomic disintegration was a power any villain would want, how does out overpower a black hole after all? "The same could be said for each of your quirks, for example, Denki Kaminari, your quirk is Electricity, it could save lives by the dozens in a medical emergency with just a bit of control, you could be a walking defibrillator, or you could fry someone's brain and instantly kill them. Kyoka Jiro, with the right frequency you could create a powerful sonic weapon to disable opponents, or you could use the vibrations to destroy buildings with families still inside them, crushing them in the collapse. Koji Koda, you could command animals to go out and find people, then bring them to safety or have those animals devour whoever they find."

"To help young heroes realize their potential to save lives rather than just fight, I built this place, a building full of the sorts of natural disasters heroes need to be ready for, I call it the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, or USJ for short!" Thirteen said, getting a look of admiration from Izuku and the other students. "By the time you're done here, I hope each and every one of you will have figured out a way to use your quirk to save lives!"

"Now, each of you will be set into groups of three, taking turns as heroes, villains, and victims," Shota said before a large dark mist formed in the middle of the building. Izuku looked at the rapidly growing mist in confusion and alarm while Shota looked at the mist with anger and apprehension. Izuku looked to Shota for guidance and noticed a change in his posture before his capture tool sprung to life around him and he pulled his goggles to his face. She wasn't looking at her homeroom teacher Shota Aizawa anymore, she was looking at The Erasure Hero: Eraserhead. "Thirteen, protect the students!"

"What is this, some sort of training thing?" Eijiro said, trying to get a look before he was roughly shoved back by Eraserhead. "H-hey!"

"Pipe down, this isn't a drill, those are actual villains!" He said as villain after villain walked out of the mist. Eraserhead's hands moved to his scarf and Izuku's eyes widened, he was getting ready to attack when he was still so heavily outnumbered. She along with the other students were corralled back by Thirteen, but Izuku called out to her teacher anyway.

"Sir, they really outnumber you, your specialty is one on one ambushes, this is dozens against one open field kind of battle!"

Eraserhead scoffed. "Thanks for the concern, but a hero lover like you should already know I'm no one trick pony." He said before rushing down the stairway as the mist began to dissipate. The first of the villains to enter took aim with their quirks only to find themselves systematically shut down by Eraserheads quirk and his capture weapon working in unison.

In the middle of the mist stood two people, a man with messy, light blue hair wearing black clothes with multiple blue hands grabbing at him, and a blonde girl, the same age as Izuku, in a black bodysuit with syringes strapped to her arms. Izuku's green eyes locked with the blonde girl's golden eyes, and the girl grinned widely.

"Here I am... my precious Izuku…" Himiko said as Tomura grinned under his hand mask. She could already see her prize, so close, so utterly close and begging to be bled dry, for the two of them to become one. She just had to wait until Kurogiri did his part, that's all she needed and then she could play with her wonderful, beautiful Izuku.

"No All-Might huh... well, what's a final boss without some... trigger conditions..." Tomura said as he watched Eraserhead begin to take down the small fry in his League of Villains. He wasn't sure what he expected, still, if a few of them managed a good hit it would just make everything better when he brought out his secret weapon. "Take him down, break him down and kill him, we'll shove his face into All-Mights as we end him!"

Normally he'd be mad, but he understood why All-Might wasn't here yet, it made sense.

When a mission as a bonus objective, you're given time to focus on them and prepare before the final boss arrived, as well as damage his defenses before he could even spawn. They'd capture Izuku, break the students, and make him understand despair before he turned him to dust. It was only a matter getting it all done before he gets here.

He was up for the challenge.


	17. Unforeseen Situation Joint, Part 1

_Welcome to UA Arc : Unforeseen Situation Joint_

* * *

"Damn it, I can't get a signal!" Denki said as Izuku watched Shota work, his capture weapon forcing villains into each other or closer to him so he could take them out personally. She couldn't see his eyes but imagined his eyes were flickering from opponent to opponent, momentarily disabling each quirk just before it was used to throw them off before taking them down. Before she could move to write anything down she felt a hand around her wrist.

She turned to see Ochaco pulling her arm. "Come on, we have to get out of here!" Ochaco said, pulling her towards Thirteen and the other students. Katsuki and Eijiro already seemed to be positioning themselves as point men, while moved to the back, the ice on his left side starting to form spikes. Momo already had a metal staff in hand, and Izuku could see small spurts of flame shoot from Tenya's exhaust pipes as he revved the engines in his legs.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that." The dark fog that had been behind the villains was now forming between them and the door, two glowing yellow eyes forming in the middle of it. "Greetings young ones, we are the League of Villains. Forgive our audacity but we have come here today, to Japan's premier high school for heroes and bastion of heroism, to kill All-Might. Speaking of whom, where is he, our files state he should be h-"

Before the voice within the fog could continue, Katsuki threw his hands back and launched himself with an explosion, the resulting smoke and dust creating a smokescreen between them and the fog. "Like hell, you should be a bit more worried about the threats in front of you, not someone who isn't here!" Katsuki said as he fired an explosion into the fog to try and dissipate it, instead, he felt his own shockwave slam into him throwing him back to the class. Eijiro dove to catch him, only for both to disappear as the fog surged forward.

"Kacchan!"

"Indeed, dealing with students such as yourselves, students capable of drawing the attention of heroes as those who run this school would be more hassle than it's worth. So instead I'll scatter you all across this facility and into the hands of my comrades!"

The fog wrapped around them, twisting like a rope as it pulled them in. Before Izuku knew it she was overlooking a fake city. A burning fake city no less, with real fire.

"Thirteen really went all out!" Izuku said before she pulled her arms back and thrust them forward, her wrist cuffs cutting her hands off as she did. As her muscles reattached to her hands she was able to grab onto a ledge and start pulling herself to a building, rather than fall straight into the fiery streets. The ledge burnt her hands, and she winced but held tight, only letting go once her momentum had built up enough to ensure she landed on the rooftop.

She held her palms to her mouth and sucked in a breath, before turning her head and exhaling. She repeated the process a few times before shaking her hands and looking around. There was fire everywhere, roaring out of windows and scorching the pavement and streets. "U.A. is really amazing..." Izuku said as she looked at the scene in awe. "Rescue Training is going to be awesome..."

"Got one!"

Izuku blinked as a hand went over her mouth and an arm went around her sides, pinning her arms to her sides. She let out a scream and kicked her legs back, her heel hitting something. There was a shout of pain and she slipped from her assailant's grip and turned around. There was three villains, all dressed leather jackets and pants. All three of them had mutation quirks, their skin was bright pink and wrinkled, faces elongated, and their noses were flat with forward facing nostrils. The middle one had small tusks jutting from his lips, a straw hat, and was hopping on one leg. "Damn bitch, I'm going to boil you alive, nearly knocked my hat off!"

She was on top of a burning building with villains who had Pig Mutations.

"I'm hungry all the sudden..." Izuku said as she looked at the three pig-like villains in front of her. The one of the left snorted and held a wooden baseball bat in his hands like a club while the one of the right had a brick in each hand. "... Is this what Momo meant about long pig?"

The middle one rushed at her, hands open to grab her again. "Damn brat, you think you can scare us with comments like that!?" He said as he thrust his hands at Izuku. She took a step back to avoid his hands and spun into a roundhouse kick. The sound of her shoe colliding with the side of the man's head echoing over the roar of the fires around them, and the strength of the kick snapped the pigman's head to the side, his hat flying off into the fire.

The pig man stumbled to the side, both hands over his ear while the other two rushed to take her on next. Izuku ducked under the swing of a bat before rolling between the pigman's legs to avoid the other man's thrown brick. She jumped back onto her feet and turned, lashing out with her elbow and hitting the bat carrying pigman in the small of his back. There was a shout of pain as the bat was dropped and large pink hands moved to cover the location she'd hit. Izuku then grabbed the pigman's hands and spun, pulling him off his feet before throwing him at the brick carrying pigman.

"My hat, I fucking loved that hat!"

Izuku turned towards the voice to find the first pigman was already back on his feet, rushing at her with his hands curled up into fists. "You ruined my hat!" He said as he started throwing punches. Izuku found the attempts to hit her sloppy, easy to avoid. He didn't seem to know how to punch properly and was just swinging his fists around. She sidestepped a punch and held her leg out as the pigman kept moving, resulting in the villain tripping and falling on his face. "Damnit!"

"... Are you really villains?" Izuku said as the other two got up and rubbed their heads. She looked at them try to regain their bearings and then at the fallen baseball bat. Izuku walked over to it and picked it up, swinging it in one hand a couple times before turning back to the three pigmen. The three were all standing up now, getting ready to attack her again. "Are you new to villainy or something?"

"We're the Boarhead Brothers girly, we're your worse nightmare!"

"My worst nightmare is opening the fridge and not finding any pork or yogurt... you're literally the opposite of my nightmares," Izuku said as the three tried to flex their arms in an intimidating fashion. They were certainly big, but they seemed to be mostly fat... maybe that was just a side effect of their quirk? She didn't know how much muscle pigs usually had. The three faltered at her comment, realizing they weren't scaring her at all.

"Brother, what should we do, she's not scared!" The one who'd attempted to hit her with a brick said, getting a snort from the one with tusks.

"We just beat her until she is sca-Gah!" The tusked pigman tried to say, but Izuku decided to throw the baseball bat at him. The bat struck hard enough to ricochet off his head and back to Izuku, who caught it. "You bitch, I'll end you!"

He rushed at her again only for the roof to collapse underneath them, no, collapsed was the wrong word. The roof opened up underneath them, imitating a collapse caused by their actions and damage from the fire. There was a lot more in the building, and she could hear the pigmen coughing. Her skin tingled from the heat, just like it used to when Katsuki was about to hurt her when they were kids.

Izuku had a feeling muscle fibers wouldn't help much with burns.  
The smoke was rising out of the room through the opened ceiling, and she could see one of the pigmen starting to get up. It was the one with the tusks, and he was foaming at the mouth. "Damn it, I'm going to boil you alive just to hear you scream, and sell your flesh to the dog fighters!" He said as he rushed her again, hands outstretched to grab her.

Izuku reached out and grabbed his wrists, squeezing them in her hands. Almost immediately both wrists popped and broke in her hands, followed by the pigman's screams. She started to squeeze harder, and she felt a warm liquid start to pool between her fingers and in her grasp. She'd put enough pressure on his wrists to break the skin. "Let me go, fuck, what are you, what the hell are you!?"

Izuku pulled and lashed out with her head, her forehead slamming into the elongated face of the villain and knocking him out. "... You really stink, I don't think I like long pig..." Izuku said before she tossed the unconscious pigman over her shoulder and ran into the next room, hoping her friends were alright.

* * *

"What are we going to do, we're surrounded, two of the three of us are out of our element and that's all just icing on the cake compared to the worst part of this!"

Ochaco felt a bit uneasy as Minoru gripped the sides of his head, tears pouring down his cheeks and his tear bared. "My book is completely shredded to wet pulp!" Minoru said, his voice echoing around them. Ochaco felt the uneasy tension vanish as she looked at the boy, wondering if he was serious. "Both of you, keep at least a good three feet away from me at all times!"

Minoru took a few steps back, his hands gripped around his biceps. He looked terrified, though Ochaco wasn't entirely sure as to whether it was the villains or the fact he didn't have his book. "Okay... why?"

"Probably an effect of his instability, just do what he asks," Asui said. Ochaco was thankful the villains didn't seem to be aware of Asui's quirk, otherwise landing in the flood zone would have been a lot more dangerous. The frog girl had saved both of them from the aquatic villains currently surrounding their ship.

"Thank you, now, we need to come up with a way out of here!"

Ochaco looked at Minoru again, who looked even more scared than before. "Those of us who've been at the dorms since the beginning at the dorms, Roy, Tsubame, Izuku, all of us, we've seen how it goes when you just wait!" Minoru said as he fell onto his backside, shivering with wide, teary eyes. "You can't wait, you can't just sit back and hope the heroes arrive in time, that's what we did, if it wasn't for Osore figuring out she could move through wires, a bunch of the heroes might have died, if we hadn't just sat down and waited to be saved we could have found Izuku before... before..."

Minoru shook his head violently, tears flying from his face. "No, I can't just sit around waiting for a cool hero, not again!" Minoru said as he stood up again. Ochaco gulped at the look on the boys face. He still looked scared but there was something else to it too, like it wasn't just himself he was scared for. "We have to get out of here, find the others, band together and show these villains that we're not victims!"

"What exactly do you have in mind, we don't have the home-field advantage, the element of surprise, or even a numbers advantage," Asui said, getting a nod from Ochaco. "I'm all for getting out of this mess, but a plan will probably go better."

"It's gonna take timing... but if we do it right, it'll totally work!" Minoru said as he grabbed one of this hairballs and pulled it from his scalp. For some reason, Ochaco thought it sound like a small pop, but instead it sounded like he was actually ripping a chunk of hair from his scalp. She winced as he tossed it up and down in his hand, that had to have hurt. "I had a pretty good breakfast today and a double dose of hair and nail vitamins, my Pop-Off quirk should be able to stick to anything that isn't me for a good two hours. You two have frog powers and anti-gravity right?"

"Right, when I touch something I can remove gravity's effect on it, making it weightless," Ochaco said while Asui nodded.

"I can reach about twenty meters with my tongue, and carry the weight of a full grown person with it before things get painful, my legs are strong enough to propel me through the water at high speed or hop long distances. I can also secrete a weak poison from my stomach, and can regurgitate it as a distraction." Asui said, getting a pout form Ochaco, her quirk had so many different effects, it was like multiple powers in one. "I can also store objects in my stomach and regurgitate them when they're needed, but I don't think it'd be helpful in this situation."

Minoru seemed distracted, before shaking his head again. "Alright... we can do this, our powers are perfect for what we need to do!"

The boat shook again, and Minoru rushed to the door. "I'm going to start littering the water with my quirk, Ochaco, you need to make Asui weightless so she can jump, then undo your quirk and activate it on the two of us and the ship! Asui, when you feel your weight come back launch or tongue at the ship and throw it to the nearest zone and hang on!" Minoru said as he ran out, Ochaco could hear him starting to scream at the villains. He was giving them an opening to start his plan.

"Come on, we need to move," Asui said, getting a nod from Ochaco as they ran out to the main deck as well. Minoru was pitching his quirks balls straight at the villains, who were quick to avoid them. Ochaco noticed one of the villains about to shoot back at them when another stopped him.

"Idiot, you don't know what those balls might do!"

They didn't know their quirks, that must be why they were being so slow to try and stop them, fear of reprisal. Ochaco touched Asui's shoulder, then her face to make the girl weightless just as Minoru started running towards them. Asui jumped, her weightlessness combined with muscles designed to launch a person multiple stories under normal gravity making her shoot up like a bullet.

Ochaco pressed her fingers together before kneeling and planting her hands on the deck, removing the weight of the ship as Minoru ran up to the railing and held on tight. Ochaco felt her stomach turning already as she reached out and touched both Minoru and herself, removing their weight. Again she felt like she was about to vomit, especially as Asui's tongue wrapped around the ship and pulled it from the water.

"Just hold on, wait for my signal to give us our weight back, and don't worry!" Minoru said over the wind roaring in her ears as they started flying out of the zone. He had reached out and grabbed her hand before she could pull away. That, in turn, had kept her from getting thrown back when the ship was pulled out of the water. "My quirk, plus the water displacement from pulling the ship out of the water like that, those villains are probably got stuck together in clumps when the ship came out of the water and the water moved to compensate!"

Ochaco felt a moment's relief before her stomach acted up again. "Now!" Minoru said, and Ochaco quickly put her fingers together, her stomach calming down rapidly as weight returned to the ship and Asui pulled herself back onto the deck. "We did it!"

"That was pretty cool."

"... Holy absolute territory it was!" Minoru said before cheering. "I was cool!"

"Really cool," Ochaco said with a nod as she looked towards where the ship was flying... er... falling, now. "Hey, it's Eraserhead!"

* * *

Shota's eyes were wide open as he removed a villains quirk, moments like this made him feel alive in a way he tried to stay away from. Dealing with the repercussions of overusing his quirk aside, he always felt a bit more sadistic than a hero should be when he did this. He preferred the underground, one on one scene for a reason, it actually made him feel less in tune with his dark side.

His capture weapon lashed out, the special material responding to a small implant in the back of his neck that caught on to the signals it received from his brain to make the weapon come to life. The villain was wrapped up and used like a flail head to smash another group of villains, planting them into the ground like the filth they we- 'Calm down Shota...'

"Villains, you all better surrender with your hands up!"

Every one of the villains looked up to see what was happening, and Shota took the moment to get a look at what was happening. He blinked at the sight of a large Yacht flying through the air with Minoru standing at the bow, looking down at all of them as the ship sailed through the air from the flood zone to the ruins zone.

How did they even do that?

Minoru held a closed fist up, aiming it towards the ruins zone. "Because U.A.'s Counterattack starts now, and we're the best of the best!"

"They escaped!?"

"But all the aquatic guys were there, how did they lose to a bunch of kids!?"

Shota chuckled _'These kids...'_ He thought to himself as he sent his capture weapon at the two biggest mutant types and slammed their heads together before launching them at a group of villains that were trying to keep their distances. "Because, this is U.A., out of every teacher here I've got the biggest reputation for being damn hard to get the approval of... guess what they've managed to get each training session?"

Shota threw himself back into the fight. If these idiot kids were going to go around getting into fights... well, he'd best finish this quickly and move on to back them up.

* * *

Thirteen nodded when they saw the ship fly by, it was time to start a counterattack, wasn't it? They looked at the students still around them. Tenya Iida, Rikido Sato, Yuga Aoyama, Mina Ashido, Hanta Sero, and Mezo Shoji. They could work with that... but it'd be a lot easier to work with pros. "Alright, you heard him, time to start our counterattack." Thirteen send, getting the students to look at them. "You, Class Rep, time to put those legs to work, we'll make an opening, you need to get out there and tell the school we're under attack!"

"W-What, abandon all of you here!?"

"No, use your quirk to rescue everyone." Thirteen said as they held up their fingers. "These villains are having trouble with just Eraserhead, but with the rest of the faculty we'd be able to save everyone, you're the only one fast enough, now get ready!"

They opened the ends of their suits fingertips and let their quirk activate. The suit held up enough to direct their quirk, sucking up the fog from the warp quirk user who looked to be getting ready to throw the yacht back into the flood zone. "Don't think you're getting away with this, Black Hole!"

"A rescue hero, attempting combat... you're not prepared for that are you Thirteen!" Kurogiri said as he began to form a warp to throw Thirteens quirk back at them, only for something to touch his metal brace and start pulling him to the ground, throwing off his aim. "Wha-"

"Maybe, but we're not going to let them fight alone after a call to arms like that!" Sero said as he shot tape at Kurogiri, Mezo holding him like a large rifle before using Sero to pull Kurogiri from the sky. Sero then looked at Tenya. "Dude, get going, every moment the other teachers aren't here, everyone is at risk, go and be our hero man!"

"It's your chance to Shine, mon ami!" Yuga said as he unleashed his quirk, blasting a hole through the USJ front doors. "Shine Bright!"

"You bra-" Kurogiri said as his warp fog was sucked up by Thirteen, he prepared to make another warp when he heard a battle cry. A quick turn showed the other two children were swinging him at a third student, a rather muscular looking student. The large boy punched his metal brace, roaring as he did.

"Go down!" Rikido said as he slugged Kurogiri, throwing the fog-shrouded villain across the stairway. Tenya grit his teeth and ran towards the door as the others held off Kurogiri, using the hole Yuga made as handholds to pry the doors open.

"Everyone... Please hold on!" Tenya said as he pried the doors open enough to make his way outside. He willed his legs to move, forcibly increasing the throttle move into higher gears faster. "Just hold on, Engine Boost!"

"These kids..." Kurogiri said as he started to form a warp gate back to Shigaraki, this was well beyond what they'd anticipated. "... are not to be underestimated..."

* * *

Katsuki would admit, he was an angry guy. There was a lot of things that set him off and he didn't have a very long fuse. Whether it was part of his quirks instability that made him figuratively explosive to match the real explosions, something he learned from his mother, or a side effect of the ass kissing he near constantly got through childhood, he didn't know.

What he did know, was that villains interrupting his chance to learn how to use his quirk for a non-combat application, something he realized he was severely lacking in, wasn't a thing that made him mad. No, Mad was when Izuku used a knife and her quirk to get a tv remote. Mad was when his mother sent him reminders of the little things he was letting Izuku get away with now that he wasn't a total jackass. Mad was when his old jackass friends thought they could get away with bullshit around him.

He wasn't mad, he was Enraged.

"I will blow off your arms and blast them straight up your ass you bastard!"

He was still getting used to it. When he was mad there was a specific target, usually an action, that he could react to in a violent way to try and prevent it from happening again. This was different, he didn't want to just scare or deter a repeat scenario, no he wanted to hurt something, break something. To that end, he turned to the villains who started this whole mess. His quirk was good at those things, these villains had gone and made him feel these things, and now they would be the outlet for his rage so he could calm down before looking for Izuku.

He could work with that, hell, maybe this whole enraged thing wasn't so bad.

"Guess who's about to be a Them!?"

Or maybe he was just out of reasons to keep himself under control, he wasn't sure. Either way, it would work and while the line might have had some bad connotations out of context he really wanted a way to say he was going to explode the poor sap right in the junk until there stopped being any junk. That he was wondering if that was really so bad made him decide he didn't like being enraged, which in turn made him fight harder to try and get it all out rather than bottle any of it up.

Eijiro looked at Katsuki, who was blasting villains left and right, screaming with incoherent rage between slightly coherent lines that kind of scared him. He realized the blond had a temper, but watching him grab villains by the faces and set off his quirk, or grabbing their arms with one hand and using an explosion with the other to catapult people into walls. That was more than he expected.

Eijiro felt a spark of anger in his chest light up just by watching him. Who did these guys think they were, interrupting their class to take on All-Might when they couldn't even handle a student? Were they serious right now? Was this the sort of trash they were training to fight, this was what he was training for?

He tensed his muscles and his skin, hardening it to his limit before running into a fight as well. His first targets, a fellow redhead whose fingernails appeared to be claws, and a short woman with black, feather-like hair. "Come on, you can take him, you're the Queen of Crows, beautiful and clever~"

"Yeah, I can take him, I ca-" The woman started to say, only for Eijiro to slug her across the face. His quirk made his skin jagged and sharp as it hardened it, so when he punched her it did more than just hurt, it tore into her cheek and let blood fly. Recovery would require professional help, given the damage and the fact it was on her cheek.

The other villain took a few steps back before looking at Eijiro.

"So strong, with such an amazing qui-" The redhead started, only for an explosion to engulf him. When the blast died down the villain was covered in scorch marks. Eijiro then watched as Katsuki planted one of his kneepads into the villains gut.

"Don't flatter yourself into thinking we want compliments from idiots like you, damned fox fuck!" Katsuki said as the villain doubled over from the hit. Katsuki then brought his arm down and slammed his bracer into the villains back, dropping him to the ground. "... Fuck, we need to find the others."

"You don't want to beat them all yourself?" Eijiro said, getting a sideways glance from Katsuki. The blond then seemed to get lost in thought before shaking his head.

"No way, these idiots had reason to believe their shitty quirks were good enough to take on All Might. That means either they have back up coming in, or they brought a much bigger thug to help o-" Katsuki said, but before he could finish a Yacht of all things crashed in from the ceiling. "... The fuck?"

* * *

"Momo, are you... okay?" Kyoka said as Momo formed a staff in her hands, then a short sword for her. "H-Hey... Momo?"

Momo was looking at the various villains surrounding her, Kyoka, and Denki. She flashed back to the clinic for a moment, to the sight of the rooms they passed through when they were being escorted out. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.." Momo said as she flourished her staff. "Come on, let's take them down and get to the others!"

"Girly, you really should be more scared than that, do you realize the situa-ck!"

Momo stepped forward and thrust the staff out like a spear, striking the villain in the throat just as a yacht flew across the central area of the USJ, going from the flood zone to the ruins. She overheard Minoru's shout, as did the other villains. "I've lived through worse than you!" Momo said as she thrust the staff out again before tossing it into the air and forming a set of conductive knuckledusters from her hands. She then tossed the weapons to Denki before catching the staff. "We're not just going to stand here defending, we'll carve our way back to our friends!"

She focused on her fat cells, making them move and converge on her back as Denki ran forward, electricity arcing around him while Kyoka plugged her ear jacks into the speakers in her boots. The villains in front of them all stopped moving, instead reaching for their ears or falling to the ground holding their heads while Denki used electricity as well as the brass knuckles to drop villains one by one. Momo smiled for a moment before schooling her face and jumping back into the fight. _'We're on our way, I won't just leave you to survive on your own again, Izuku.'_

"If you think for even one moment we'll just stand here and let you hurt us, hurt our friends, then you were screwed from the beginning!"

Denki grinned as he ducked under a villains attempt to punch him and buried a fist into the large man's gut before activating his quirk. Electricity danced around his body and across the villains before he pulled his fist back and the man dropped to the ground. "Your actions thus far might have seemed like the works of a grandmaster, but in reality your failure to account for our capabilities and resolve has ensured your subjugation will be inevitable." Denki said, getting a look from Kyoka, who'd thought the goofy boy to be something of an idiot. "Now bare witness as our power overwhelms and invalidates your numeric advantages!"

Momo let her quirk loose, forming an insulated sheet over herself and Kyoka. "We're insulated, let loose!" She said, and Denki grinned wildly before holding his hands in front of him, palms to the ground.

"Indiscriminate Discharge, One point Three Million Volts!" Denki said as he overcharged his quirk, letting the electricity build until he couldn't control it anymore, causing it to arc outward towards other conductive materials. He continued to full the discharge as long as he could, to make sure each villain around them was hit with as much electricity as he could manage, as well as keep the amperage to 0.4. The result was immediate, the electricity shocked the villain's muscles like a wave of tasers, dropping each of them to the ground just in time for Denki's quirk to short circuit the electrical signals his brain produced. For a moment he was unaware of anything before he was fully aware again, just unable to get any words out.

He'd done this enough times in the past to know what to do now. Doing everything in his power to raise his hands up, thumbs to the sky, he let his fellow hero trainees know he was okay, granted he'd need some time as his body rerouted the electricity that had flooded his nervous system so it would stop dampening this brains signals. He started to hear the ground crack near him as Kyoka screamed for him not to look over, he might not be as okay as he thought, he had to let them know.

"Wheeey!"

Damn it!

* * *

Shoto sighed as he froze another pair of villains solid. He could feel the fire on his left side blazing just underneath his skin, raging wildly at the gall of these villains. His Ice kept it in check, his entire left side frozen solid while he used the right side to convey his anger. He had to keep a cool head as he fought, remember the words he decided his anger would be. His father's anger was wild, untamed, and burned like his quirks namesake, Hellfire. When his father raged it was like watching a wildfire, destroying everything with no rhyme or reason until it was sated and nothing else remained.

As his father's anger turned towards him he promised himself that His anger would be different. it would not burn endlessly, it would be swift, it would not all-consuming, it would be targeted. But he would admit to one part of his anger matching his fathers, both of them would have terrible consequences for those it was focused on.

As the villains around him had quickly realized. The moment his feet touched the ground he sent out a sheet of ice all around him, any area the ice struggled with was another pair of feet and from there the ice would grow. As it formed over the bodies of the villains he pushed it further, forcing the temperature of the ice down to a good negative ten Celsius.

"N-No w-way, what i-is this kid, we j-j-just got h-here!"

"... This is the force that wants to face All-Might, you can't even beat a kid..." Shoto said as he started to walk forward, waiting for more villains to show up. This couldn't be all of them, he was aware of his heritage much as he hated it, there had to be more who wanted the right to kill Endeavors son. As if on cue he felt more footsteps on the ice as a villain dropped in front of him, while the sound of large wings flapping emanated from behind him. He sighed as ice quickly enveloped the man in front of him while he took a step to the side and grabbed a large, sword-like weapon. Ice formed once more and enveloped the flying, bird-like villain who'd attempted to attack him from behind. "No, you're not here for All-Might, the plan might be to kill him but you thugs are here for something else, a different objective..."

He tilted his head to see invisible feet leaving prints in the ice, they'd given him Toru. If he was one of the others that might be an issue, but his ice was able to find her quickly, giving him an awareness of her location. To make that mistake they needed to not know or care enough about the two of them, and with the fact that his quirk was public knowledge thanks to his father that meant they weren't after him and didn't want Toru. If they wanted her they'd put her somewhere where someone of his power was. That said, aside from themselves and a few technological wonders of U.A., there was nothing to gain here.

The second could be obtained when there wasn't heroes and trainees in the area making it difficult.

"Right now you're all encased in ice that's well below zero degrees, the pain you're feeling is the cells that make up the outer layers of your skin being frozen to the point of bursting," Shoto said, he needed answers, and he needed them now. "After a bit, Frostbite and Hypothermia will set in, it'll be a slow, agonizing death that will leave you nearly impossible to identify."

The villain in front of him started to cry, god they really were just lowly thugs, weren't they... "I try not to be cruel, I want to be a hero after all... so, what makes you think your masters can kill All-Might, and why are you here if not to kill him yourself?" He said as he chilled the air in front of the villain's face, freezing his tears solid. "Tell me, and I'll melt this ice off of your and just cuff you instead."

"They have this really big monster, with more muscles than All-Might, we all got to shoot and attack it and we couldn't hurt it at all!" The frozen villain said, scared out of his wits. "Even the bosses quirk, which killed a guy in seconds, barely worked, and when they cut off its arm to get rid of the bosses quirks effects, the arm just came back in seconds!"

"And you're here when they have that because?"

"There's a girl, the boss really wants to get his hands on her, Izu something, to further twist the knife when All-Might dies! He and this other girl, the blonde with needles that showed us how to kidnap people, have this weird obsession with cutting her up and putting her on display!"

"Y-You don't think they mean Izuku, do you?" Toru said as she walked up to Shoto, who was frozen in place, eyes wide with shock. They were after Izuku, one of the survivors of the Bloody Mary incident, the girl who had already suffered to the point of dying, they wanted to take her away, hurt her, ruin her. His fire would not be held back any further, in a fit of rage his left side exploded into flames. The Icy shell he used to hide it immediately shattering as he stared into the eyes of the villain who'd told them their plans. Fresh tears poured down the villains face, and Shoto forced the flames back down as he reached forward, melting the ice just enough for him to grab the man and pull him from it. "S-Shoto?"

 _"Where is she?"_

The villain began to sob in earnest as smoke began to rise from the part of his outfit the boy was grabbing.

* * *

Izuku held the Boarhead Brothers baseball bat in one hand and had a villains ankle in the other. She pulled the villain off of his other foot and tossed him into the air before swinging the bat, hitting the villain in the stomach and sending him flying into a wall. The fires still roared around her, she wondered how they'd created a place that could burn without end.

Another two villains came up to her as she turned around, she brought her left leg up and kicked the first one in the face, causing him to grab his face and lean back. The other villain was upon Izuku soon after, forcing Izuku to drop her bat. Izuku grabbed the front of the villain's shirt and started to throw the second villain as the first one started to pull his hands. "Damn brat!"

She activated her wrist cuffs, throwing the villain with her hands still holding onto the one villain's shirt. Continuing the momentum of the throw Izuku twirled and went low, her leg sweeping the first villain's feet from under him. Strands of muscle grew and reached out for her hands, pulling them back to her along with the villain. As her hands brought the second villain back she brought her arms over her head.

Her hands were reconnected to her arms and she swung downward with the extra momentum created by reeling the villain in. "Dead Drop!"

The second villains head slams straight into the first one's stomach before both fall limp, she checks their wrists after a moment. They're unconscious.

Izuku wipes her brow and sighs before picking up the bat again. She hoped her friends were safe and, if any others were trapped in the same area as her, that they were taking precautions around the fire. Thankfully the bat hadn't been burned yet, or she wouldn't have a weapon and while she knew how to fight without one, it was a comfort to have it.

As she got ready to move, another group of villains came out of an alley, three of them.

"There she is, let's get h-" The first one said as he ran at her, she judged his movements and swung the bat in an upward arc. If he had any experience in a fight he'd slow down just in time for her to speed up and catch his chin.  
He didn't have any experience, she realized, when he just kept going and the bat went between his legs.

 _Crack!_

"-urk!"

"Oh my god I'm so sorry, I thought you were going to slow down to avoid the bat and I'd hit your chin!" Izuku said, dropping the ruined remains of the baseball bat she'd taken from the Boarhead Brothers as the villain in front of her fell to his knees, cradling his crotch. The other villains stood back, wincing at their fellow villain's whines.

"Dude that's Gary, didn't he have plans for the other students...?"

"I swear women have a sixth sense for that, like a second quirk..."

Izuku pouted a bit, she hadn't meant to hurt him like that. Still, she didn't have any painkillers with her so the best she could do was knock him out for now. "I'm really sorry!" She said as she brought her foot back and aimed just below the man's jaw before kicking. The villain went out like a light, immediately ceasing his whimpers as he lost consciousness.

"Holy shit, she killed Gary!"

"W-We have to get out of here! Since when do heroes kill!?"

The two villains turned around only to freeze and take a step back. Izuku wondered for a moment why they were scared when they both fell to their knees. Out of the alley in front of them, a girl with blonde hair tied into a pair of spiky buns, and black bodysuit came out. There were tubes and vials around her legs, body, and arms. "You have no idea... how long I've waited for this moment!"

Golden eyes stared into green as the two villains fell to the ground. The girl pulled her arms back and two syringes, connected to tubes, were pulled from the two former villains and reeled back in a device on the girl's forearms. "My name is Himiko Toga, but you can call me whatever you like, I, zu, ku." Himiko said as she walked forward. Himiko was trying to play it cool, like in those television shows where the wise mentor first enters the life of the young, soon-to-be-hero, that they might guide them towards their destiny. Izuku liked heroes, after all, she was even starting to become one.

Inwardly, however... _'Did I remember to bring the pictures, is she okay, did Tomura's plan burn her, burns aren't pretty like cuts and holes, should I have brought a bottle of water?'_

Himiko was afraid she was messing up her first time really meeting her Izuku. Izuku seemed wary of her, her fists were up... she was ready to fight, Himiko could use that to get her blood, help her see. Himiko walked up to one of the two villains she'd taken down and took a knife from their belt. "I was there, that day when she tried to hurt you again," Himiko said as she inspected the knife, it wasn't a fancy one, just a box cutter with a plastic grip. "As pretty as she could have made you, I made her go away... She wouldn't have helped you understand and she wouldn't be able to understand you."

She grinned as she looked up as Izuku, box cutter in hand. "But I know we'll be able to understand each other, I'll become you and you won't disappear when I do, we'll be able to be together as one, but there will be two of us," Himiko said, then ran forward towards Izuku. "We'll be the best of friends, we'll know each other inside and out!"

Izuku took a step back, readying herself for a frontal assault, only for Himiko to launch one of the syringes. Izuku caught the syringe and moved to pull on it only for Himiko to jump rather than lose her footing. Himiko used the force of the pull and her own jump to close the distance between them and lash out with the box cutter. Izuku attempted to dodge but the blade still cut into her neck and went deep enough to trigger her quirks stitching. The wound was sealed before much blood could spill from the wound.

Himiko's face fell in disappointment, where was the blood, who would she make her friend beautiful and become her if there wasn't any blood. "Haaaah, you didn't bleed this time, I know you can I saw you covered in blood!"

Izuku used the moment to grab Himiko's wrist and turn it, forcing her to drop the box cutter while Himiko jumped and turned, planting a kick on Izuku's cheek. Izuku's head rattled from the blow and she let go of Himiko's arm, who then pulled her legs back and kicked off of Izuku's face to put distance between them. "But you know... maybe it's better that way..." Himiko said as she landed on her hands, then flipped back onto her feet. "If I can't cut you up to make you bleed, I'll just have to stab and hit you until you cough it up, then I could lick it from your lips and drink it from your mouth, I'm getting tingly just thinking about it."

Himiko curled her fists under her chin and hopped while Izuku felt her muscles move around her jaw, making sure her teeth weren't knocked loose. This one was different from the others, she reminded Izuku of the clinic, of the tests she took after they discovered her quirk and then took again after U.A. had brought her in. The Quirk instability tests, how she'd been labeled with Class Eight instability. This could have been her and if this villain gets her way, might be her future.

Izuku clenched her fists as Himiko came at her again. "Come on, let me taste you, let me make you beautiful, let me be you!" Himiko said as she ran forward, syringes in hand. Izuku waited for a moment before rushing forward to fight back.

* * *

"So... someone escaped... damn, if only you'd held them off a little longer, we could have the bonus objective completed before the event that summons the final boss played out," Tomura said as he scratched at his neck, everything had been going according to plan... until those damn kids flew across the fight on a fucking ship of all things, screaming for his raid party to surrender. The idiot must have some sort of Rally ability because it invigorated Eraserhead and the other students, who were able to get past a warp gate all things.

How the hell do you escape someone who can decide where you are anyway? Kurogiri would have to explain that, if his quirk has a reach or something he needs to know that, he'd thought it was an unlimited reach skill for crying out loud. His was a touch skill, Eraserhead had a line of sight skill, Toga had a passive ability, this is important information that he should have been given beforehand!

Still, they had their sweeper, Nomu had plenty of skills at his disposal. Almost entirely passive ones, but they would suffice. Still, now wasn't the right time to use him, he needed to wait until the secondary objective was here. He needed to show that girl just how futile it'd be to try and escape, to have her hope only to destroy it and then make an offer. Be his pet and Nomu would back off from Eraserhead, leaving him unconscious, fight back and he dies and she becomes his pet anyway...

He wondered how her powers would react to his quirk, if she could withstand it she'd make for the perfect training dummy, if not... well, Toga had knives. she could carve away the decay...

"Damn, you're pretty cool, huh, taking down all those ow level noobs on your own despite being a one on one build." He said as Eraserhead turned his attention to him. A chance to properly face a pro-hero after standing back and taking lots of observations, this would be his moment to prove Sensei was right in giving him the league. "Still, I think I've got you figured out... mind if I give it a go?"

Tomura popped his neck a few times before rushing straight towards Eraserhead, as expected the man's hair went up as he rushed forward. Tomura couldn't count on his quirk so instead of attempting a grapple right away he focused on bracing for impact. He took an elbow to the knee, a hard hit, one he'd feel for a while but compared to Sensei... he could ignore it. He reached out and grabbed Eraserheads elbow. "When you deactivate a quirk, your eyes are hidden by your goggles, but your hair starts to float, and it's been floating for shorter intervals the longer this fight goes..."

As if on cue, which it might as well have been with how he'd been timing it, he feels his quirk come back as he decays the skin on Eraserheads elbow before going to strike his chest. Eraserhead instead forcibly breaks from Tomura, preventing the man from decaying part of his shirt and chest. "Seriously, you are really cool... but, you're hardly All-Might, though I'll grant that fighting in a method that's essentially quirkless and still being cool enough for U.A., that's fucking cool as hell."

Tomura grinned behind Father as he flexed his fingers, popping each individual knuckle as he did. "It's really too bad... I wouldn't have to crush you if All-Might had stuck to his schedule... really pisses me off but at the same time you're a lot of fun to watch. So much fun I'm going to let you in on a little secret." He said as Sensei's words came to mind.

 _'You of all people know how bad your temper can be for your ability to fight, when you see the opportunity, drag people into the same fault and watch them sink.'_

"You're working so hard to take us down, thinking it'll save your student, but right now you're exactly where I need you to be so I can take one for my own... a certain little zombie..." Tomura said, grinning wider as Eraserhead stiffened. "They'll drag her here kicking and screaming, before begging us to spare your life when she realizes just how big a mistake you made taking on all that trash before taking out the final boss."

"I can still take you down, you know."

"Oh, but that's the secret I'm about to share, hero," Tomura said as he felt a laugh bubble up in his chest. Nomu loomed behind him and Tomura noticed Eraserheads head tilt to look it in the eye. "You see, just like you're nothing more than a mini-boss for me before I end All-Might... _I'm not the one you should be worried about!"_

* * *

 **I apologize about the delay, between having difficulties with how to change the different reactions of the various characters effected most by previous events, as well as life, this came out much later than it should have. Hopefully it was worth the wait.**

* * *

 **Omake : Oh Sugar Honey Iced Pekoe**

"Hold on, you can throw a ship?"

Minoru looked up at Katsuki, then pointed at Tsuyu and Ochaco. "They can throw a ship, anti-gravity and a super strong tongue that can use a whip-like motion at the end for maximum acceleration." He said, and Katsuki grinned.

"Do it again, and stick me to the stern."

Tomura grinned as he prepared to unleash the Nomu on Eraserhead, only for Eraserhead to palm his face. What was he doing, was... was he getting embarrassed at who he was fighting, he was about to-

He looked up upon hearing a rather loud blast, onto to see smoke and fire emanating from the stern of the yacht that flew overhead before, this time however it was flying _straight at him!_

"Oh Shi-"


	18. Unforeseen Situation Joint, Part 2

_Welcome to UA Arc : Unforeseen Situation Joint Part 2_

 ** _Warning : Things are gonna get messy._**

* * *

Eraserhead could admit, he didn't like a lot of things. Bright lights, illogical actions, villains in general. He also disliked heroes who actively reached out for the spotlight, like Uwabami and Captain Celebrity. All-Might he could begrudgingly tolerate, as the man didn't so much reach for the spotlight as much as the spotlight sought him out and he didn't make any effort to hide.

Present Mic was an exception, mostly because rather than cater to the media he just became his own harshest critic through his radio show. Midnight didn't really try for the spotlight, she preferred to work at night like he did, using stealth and cornering opponents. They both needed terrain advantages, either through having handholds and other objects to move around with via his capture weapon or narrow passages that could easily be filled with her quirks aroma.

If he needed to have a partner, he usually preferred people like Ectoplasm or Edgeshot. With Ectoplasms quirk he could focus on particular targets and keep out of the spotlight at the same time, while Edgeshot was smarter than most and had no issues stopping and coming up with a plan or ambush.

So with those facts in mind, Eraserhead could admit when the Nomu came into full view, he really wished All-Might hadn't managed to use up his entire time limit as a hero. Come to think of it, he wasn't sure how that even happened, there were dorms at U.A. the guy could live in. Hell, every teacher had one, Present Mic broadcasted from his and Eraserhead himself often used it as a place to sleep between teaching hours and his night patrol.

When he got out of this he was having a talk with the blond idiot.  
Eraserhead could feel blood starting to drip down his right arm, not to mention the pain. The pain was manageable, though he would have to avoid using that arm. Just in case, he clenched his right hand into a fist... it felt weak and was a moment slower than normal, not to mention the pain flared up as exposed muscles moved. One false move and it'd be over, he couldn't take too many risks against this villain.

"A mini-boss like you is worth a lot of experience, but there's more to victory than that," Tomura said as he brought a hand up to his jawline, scratching softly. As he spoke Eraserhead pulled a rubber band from his belt and lifted it up to the back of his head. "If I can take you down and keep you alive, then when my subordinates get here with that pet zombie of yours, I'll trade your life to have her willingly surrender to us. Then once we kill All-Might U.A. will be ruined."

'Wow, he was actually going for the full monologue... well, no reason to look a gift horse in the mouth.' Eraserhead thought to himself as he used the rubber band to tie his hair back into a loose bun. His hair floating when he activated his quirk usually wasn't an issue, but that hadn't stopped him from learning ways to try and minimize it. By tying it back it'd at least be a bit more subtle.

"First you get the Symbol of Peace killed, then all your hero students die, save the one you deliberately took from her home to be safe, and finally The League of Villains comes out with her in tow acting like the zombie she really is..." Tomura said as his scratching got more excited. Eraserhead hoped Thirteen could see his hands as he went through a few extra motions while tying his hair back. "Bye Bye hero schoo-"

"When, they bring her here?" Eraserhead said as he bent his knees slightly, preparing to rush the villain. Tomura twitched and leveled a glare at Eraserhead, doesn't take taunts well, good to know. "She's survived worse than this, take it from the guy who just dismantled your little league."

Another thing Eraserhead liked was logic, logical thinking, logical expectations, logical reactions, they were a sign of control that all heroes needed. It was something he and Nezu had in common, and there was one particular logical expectation both of them tended to act on. Nezu liked it because to him it was a fun paradox that made his mind games more lively, for Eraserhead it made predicting villains easier.

Said line of thought came to mind as Tomura rushed forward, eyes widen with rage and lacking any sort of forward planning.

It's only logical to expect others to be illogical when put under unexpected pressure.

Eraserhead unleashed his capture weapon once more, not activating his quirk yet. The villain got ready to intercept them, his hands splayed open and in front of him. Rather than wrap Tomura's body, however, the weapon went low and spun around his ankles. A sharp tug dropped the blue-haired villain to the ground before Eraserhead swung him into the air.

Thirteen, thankfully, had seen Eraserheads hand signals and was floating overhead, tethered by two long strands of tape. They activated their quirk as Tomura was sent towards them and Eraserhead released his capture weapons grip on the boy and moved to the left without any prompting. As expected, the void skinned monstrosity struck the ground where Eraserhead had been standing with power comparable to All-Might, creating a gust of wind that further flung Tomura towards Thirteen while dispelling any mist that had been forming a portal to save the villain from having his hands destroyed.

"Tomura!" Kurogiri said his fog began to dissipate, revealing a man with pale, translucent skin and glowing yellow eyes. Tomura could tell he was in trouble, it just didn't make sense to him. He tried to use Sensei's lessons, and both Eraserhead and Thirteen were supposed to nothing more than mini-bosses, something to warm up against. Yet here he was, about to be destroyed just before the finish line. He couldn't believe he needed the carry to get involved so early.

"Nomu!"

Eraserhead shielded his face with his arms as the ground exploded. Just how powerful was that monster? Once the dust died down he saw Thirteen in the middle of a crater, suit thankfully intact. 'Granted, that suit's tough enough to help direct their quirk, the question now is, is Thirteen still conscious.'

Meanwhile, Tomura was placed on the ground by Nomu. The blue haired villain scratched furiously at his neck. "Doesn't make sense... they're supposed to be nothing, tutorial bosses at best..." He said as his fingernails pulled at the scars that littered his neck. An underground hero with no power boost and a rescue hero with no combat experience should be no trouble for Kurogiri and himself.

He stopped scratching as it hit him. Of course, they'd failed part of the tutorial fight and so it was harder. You need to divide and conquer, instead because he'd gotten careless and started monologuing both heroes were able to work together and nearly beat him if not for Nomu. Tomura grinned as he saw Eraserhead moving towards him alone. "I get it now..." He said as he ran to meet the hero halfway and crush him. "You're done, hero!"

* * *

Izuku lunged forward at Himiko as the girl came close, going low and bringing a fist up into Himiko's stomach. In relatiation, Himiko released the needles in her syringes and thrust them into Izuku's back. "Suck... Suck..." Himiko said as Izuku lifted herself back up, flipping the blonde off of her back. Himiko let out a grunt as she landed on the small of her back before retracting her needles and leaping back to her feet. "Careful, my needles might break, how am I supposed to be you without them!"

Izuku spun towards Himiko and swung one of her arms, one of her cuffs cutting off her left hand. Her hand flew towards Himiko, closely chased by muscle fibers. Himiko slapped the hand away and rushed towards Izuku, ignoring the fibers as they zipped by her. "You missed!" Himiko said as she extended an arm towards Izuku, a needle extending from the syringe strapped to it.

Izuku instead turned her back at the last second, causing Himiko's arm to go over her shoulder and her body to collide with Izuku's back. A hand gripping her bicep caused

Himiko to look at her arm, and saw that Izuku's hand had been reeled back and grabbed a hold of her. As her hand reattached Izuku grabbed Himiko's forearm with her right hand and tossed her over her shoulder, slamming her against the ground. Himiko's ears rang from the force Izuku, but she didn't let that stop her, instead lashing out with her free arm to thrust a needle into Izuku's stomach.

More blood flowed into the syringe as her system sucked up what it could, and Izuku winced, turning and throwing Himiko off the ground and towards a wall. Himiko pulled her arm back before the movement could risk breaking the needle in Izuku's stomach and noticed Izuku's hands still on her arm. The moment she did she saw muscle strings connect to the hands and she was being pulled towards Izuku, who was being pulled towards her feet first.

"Pull of the Grave!"

Izuku's feet slammed into Himiko's side, and she was sure she felt a rib crack, if not break, from the hit. She coughed up spit and bile as Izuku's grip on her arm was released and the force of the kick sent her towards a wall. This wasn't working, Izuku was being so rough... well, Himiko didn't mind that too much, but Izuku was making it hard to get her licks in too. She had to make her see that she didn't want to hurt her. "You're so rough... it's selfish..."

Izuku waited for Himiko to make her move, and Himiko put her back to the wall and slowly pushed herself up. "I want to be rough with you too, but you're making it really hard... it's not fair, especially after all I've done for you~!" Himiko said as she reached into one of her sleeves, pulling out a set of photos. Himiko grinned at Izuku as she held them up, revealing the first image in the set to be a selfie with Bloody Mary's corpse. Izuku's eyes widened in horror at the image, and Himiko giggled. "I saw her, I took her away, and I broke her... I didn't even drink her blood just to make sure she'll never come back, never ever..."

"But before I could tell you, U.A. took you away... so I looked for a way in and found the League of Villains," Himiko said as one of the vials on her belt filled with Izuku's blood from her earlier attempts. Himiko pulled herself from the wall and tossed the photos towards Izuku, they sailed through the air and landed at Izuku's feet, showing various moments during Himiko's time at the League of Villains, killing off different villains. "I made sure none of them were any good, none of them were even really scary, just so they couldn't hurt you, couldn't remind you..."

She pulled the vial from her belt and held it up. "Only I can hurt you, and only you get to hurt me, cause we'll be one and the same forever and ever, through eternity!" Himiko said before she opened the vial and drank the contents. She felt her quirk assimilate the blood and note all the little details. Izuku would understand, Himiko was sure of it.

Izuku took a step away from the pictures as she looked over them before she heard something that sounded like mud pouring out of a bucket. She looked up to see a gray, clay-like substance oozing out of Himiko's body and shaping itself around her. Izuku prepared for the fight to continue, then stiffened in shock as the clay formed a silhouette of her, then changed colors until standing in Himiko's place was a copy of Izuku.

Himiko laughed with Izuku's voice, Izuku's face, Izuku's body as Izuku looked at her in shock and terror. "It feels just like I thought it would, so amazing, so strong... I knew your quirk complimented mine..." Himiko said as she spun on one leg, feeling what it was like to be in Izuku's body. As she did she noticed a few differences, nothing wrong with the clothing or body, but the syringes, vials, and harnesses were still visible. "I can never get emitters, or transformations right...but yours, your quirk's a mutant type..."

Izuku was reminded of Shota's lecture in the bus, about how quirks were more complicated than just three types. Her enemy didn't know that and her muscle strings were affected by an emitter effect, so hopefully, Himiko wouldn't have her regeneration. "That means you can hurt me, and I can hurt you, and neither of us would ever actually be hurt and we could dance in a room of beautiful red and while in it ourselves, I know you like the idea, I'm you now and I can feel it! How easy dying is, how it saves us and makes us better!"

Himiko squirmed in Izuku's body, rubbing her legs together and pressing her hands against her cheeks. Izuku took another step back, she didn't like the idea at all. The idea of hurting something, of bleeding them didn't appeal to her, she wanted to help people. "You're wrong, I don't want to hurt people, I want to help them!"

"Hurting people is helping them, you help them become beautiful, you help them forget everything else and focus their minds on the now, can't you see?" Himiko said, still in Izuku's body. "Why can't you see, you should be able to see that, I can see it and I'm you!"

Izuku shook her head and got ready for Himiko to attack her. The girl grinned her frightening grin with Izuku's face, Izuku's teeth, Izuku's eyes. "I know you can see it, how real it is, that's why I'm not going to let you go, you will be mine forev-"

Before she could continue a large, blond hair tipped tail slammed Himiko back into the wall. Mashirao pulled his tail back and jumped over to Izuku before Himiko could react, letting her fall back on the ground. "Izuku, are you alright?"

Izuku looked at him and nodded. "Y-Yeah... What about you?"  
Mashirao dusted off his shoulders. "Nothing too severe." He said before they both refocused their eyes on Himiko, who was pulling herself back up. "Who is that?"

"I don't know... they seem to be interested in me..."

Mashirao's eyes looked over the photos in front of them. "That might be an understatement... we need to get out of here and find the others but I imagine she won't let you go."

"Get lost Tailman!"

"... There goes that idea." Mashirao said to himself as Himiko rushed at him, both syringes with extended needles. Izuku grabbed Mashirao and pulled him out of the way, lashing out with a kick as she did. Himiko instead caught her leg and used it to pivot in midair, kicking Izuku across the temple just before getting struck by Mashirao's tail.

Himiko wanted to grind her teeth, she was so close! How dare this boy interrupt, how dare he! She landed on her feet and felt something under her heel, a step back and a look revealed it to be a folding knife. Himiko grinned and grabbed the knife as a plan came to mind, flipping the blade out from the handle.

All black, with a karambit style blade, she could work with that. Himiko twirled the blade in her hand before gripping it tightly, the blade pointing out from the bottom of her fist as Izuku and Mashirao prepared themselves. Himiko rushed forward and leaped into the air. As the two looked up to watch her she deactivated her quirk, the gray sludge that had given her Izuku's form falling apart and splattering the two.

Izuku closed her eyes as the gray sludge fell onto her face as hurriedly wiped it away. Once she cleared the sludge from her face she saw Mashirao chase after something into one of the alleyways. "Hey, wait!" Izuku said as she ran after him. Behind her, something moved underneath the gray sludge.

* * *

Katsuki set of an explosion to his left as the Ochaco released her quirks effects on the yacht. They had worked together to launch the ship towards the mountain zone, which Minoru had said seemed to have the most visible villains when they first flew. The landslide zone had already been covered in ice and they could see Shoto was making his way towards the Plaza, where Eraserhead was facing off with a blue-haired villain while an ink black monster watched.

Thirteen was in a crater and wasn't moving, and Eraserhead was favoring one arm over the other. Katsuki narrowed his eyes and looked over the fight, that mist fuck was still there, creating a mist around the blue haired villain, warping Eraserheads attacks out of the way while ensuring the blue haired guy was near impossible to dodge. Their teacher needed back up and he needed it now.

That's when he saw the shine of metal near the fog covered villain's eyes.

The explosive blond turned and grabbed Kirishima by one of his shoulder gears, dragging him over to the edge of the ship. "H-Hey, what gives!?"

"Put your hands over your head and activate your quirk!" Katsuki said, giving Kirishima just a moment to follow his command before throwing him at the villains. He used a blast from his hand to launch the redhead like a bullet before he jumped after him and formed a ring with his fingers in front of one palm. "A.P. Shot, Carpet Bombing!"

* * *

Kurogiri heard one blast, looked up for a moment and saw the ship was flying again... he couldn't stop it, not without risking Tomura in his fight against Eraserhead. He refocused his attention on Tomura only to hear a second explosion followed by an intense impact on his side, directly against the metal brace around his neck. The blow took him to the ground and nearly broke the brace, what on earth hit him?

"You freaking psychopath!" Kirishima said as he stood back up after Katsuki had thrown him like a javelin and added an explosion for extra speed. His eyes then widened and he dove for cover as he saw dozens of fireballs about to pepper the ground around them. Kurogiri tried to warp away but Katsuki's A.P. Shots crashing all around him either dissipated or contained the fog his quirk formed when he tried to reach out.

"Just die-" Katsuki said as he fell towards Kurogiri, aiming one of his bracers and pulling the pin once he got within four feet of the villain. "-and go to Hell already, you bastard!"

The force of the blast halted and even reversed Katsuki's momentum as the ground shook, tripping Tomura and giving Eraserhead an opening. His capture weapon spun around the villain's wrists as he moved to flip over the villain. "Damn, Nomu!" Tomura said, getting the monster to rush towards them. Eraserhead grit his teeth, preparing for a harsh hit when the temperature around him suddenly dropped.

Ice formed around him and formed spikes between him and the villains, the monster impaling itself on them as Eraserhead stopped his momentum and instead pulled on his weapon. Tomura's eyes went wide as he was pulled towards Nomu, hands first, and forced to touch its skin. The monster screamed as its skin decayed into dust and regenerated just fast enough to keep feeding the decay effect. "No!"

Soon the monster's skin was decaying to dust and floating around it like smoke as it's regeneration kept the skin from falling apart completely. But it was still alive, and it still had ordered. It flexed its muscles and shattered the ice that had impaled it and grabbed Eraserhead's head before throwing him to the ground just in time for another wave of ice to push it and it's master back.

Shoto rode on a pillar of ice over to Eraserhead, who was slowly picking himself back up. his vision swam and his ears were ringing. He wasn't quite sure how he got on the floor, the last thing he remembered was that villain calling out for his Nomu. "Wha..." His voice sounded a bit slurred, so he had a concussion, the beast must have hit him then. He looked up to see the monster shatter through the ice between it and him, it's skin was decaying but it's flesh regenerated at the same rate... he did his best to focus on it and activated his quirk.

Nomu screeched again as it's regeneration and shock absorption quirks were deactivated, and Nomu's skin decayed until there was nothing but exposed muscle and organs, some of which slipped out onto the ground. For a moment Eraserhead was tempted to look away, deactivate his quirk and spare his students the image.

He squashed that temptation, better scarred than dead.

* * *

"All Might, is something the matter?" Mirio said as he deactivated the power of One for All flowing through him, and Toshinori sighed.

Toshinori wiped a bit of blood from his lips and chin. "Yeah, I've got a bad feeling." He said as he looked in the direction of the USJ. Something was nagging at him, he didn't know what and he wasn't sure if it was an actual bad feeling or just him feeling bad about not being there. That's when he noticed a dust cloud coming from the direction of the facility. "Mirio, get ready."

Mirio nodded as he started to see the image of a man in metallic armor. Tenya Iida and he looked determined. He shifted into his All Might form and held a hand up. **"Woah there, is something wrong?"**

Tenya saw All Might and shut down the engines in his legs, it hurt to drop from a high gear to full stop but now wasn't the time to complain about pain. His shoes grew hot from friction as he skid over the dirt path, and once he stopped he bowed to All Might. "Sir, thank everything that you're here, please you have to hurry to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint!"

"Huh, what's going on?" Mirio said, remembering his own times at the USJ, there were accidents but Thirteen had made sure no-one was actually in danger. At the same time thought it was clear the boy was scared of something.

Tenya pointed back from the direction he came from. "When we arrived, Thirteen gave their speech and then villains warped in using some dark fog!" Tenya said, he looked afraid and guilty. "I, I was urged to run to the school for help, and I need to keep going... please save them!"

Tenya ran without waiting for All Might's response, and All Might didn't give one. His smile fell as he stared in the distance towards the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, before looking at Mirio. **"Go, help make sure the school knows what's going on."**

And then he jumped, the ground cratering from the force used.

* * *

"Wait up!" Izuku said as Mashirao started to slow down. She looked around as he finally stopped running and came to a stop, they were near the edge of the dome. Mashirao's tail waved behind him slowly as Izuku walked up to him. Izuku looked at the dome walls, they looked tough and she didn't think breaking through them was an option.

Mashirao turned and looked at her, then rubbed the back of his head. "... She seemed different from the other villains I fought so I figured we should put distance between her and us." He said, eyes closed and smiling. Izuku could understand the logic, but it didn't sit right with her. "Now, we need to get out of here, our friends might be in trouble!"

"But what if our friends are here?" Izuku said. "The fog scattered us throughout the facility, others could have ended up here with us... with her!"

Mashirao looked pained. "I know, but this place is literally on fire, we need to get out and find a pro who can navigate this." He said, waving to the flames. "We're not built for fire, unless being a zombie makes you fireproof..."

"Stop!"

Izuku turned to see another Mashirao catching up with them, a small cut on his cheek. Izuku looked at the first Mashirao, who looked just as surprised. "She's just trying to lead you away from here so the other villains can hurt our friends!" The second Mashirao said, glaring at the one Izuku had followed. "Get away from her!"

"You're the fake, our classmates have been training for the last week with pros, we can deal with small-time thugs like them!" Mashirao said, pointing at the second Mashirao. "You're more than that though, I'm not going to risk a fellow classmates life by forcing a continued fight with someone obsessed with them!"

She took a few steps back and looked between the two. Both had lifelike tails, twitching as hot ashes fell on them, and both had believable expressions... only one had a cut on their face.

Izuku sprung towards the Mashirao she'd followed and lashed out with a kick. She didn't aim high, instead going for his waist. Mashirao's tail sprung into action immediately, stopping her kick and then wrapping around her leg. "What are you-" He said before he turned and used his tail to throw her away. "-doing, I'm the real one!"

She didn't respond, instead, she waited for the second Mashirao to react. He did, taking a few steps before using his tail to leap into the air. "Liar!" He used his tail to leap forward and brought his arms up so his elbows were level with his sides, palms flat and legs curled up. She thought about how he'd fought during the indoor battle scenario and during spars. His tail curled a bit to stabilize his trajectory, but once he reached the peak of the jump he didn't try to use his tail to spin his body.

She lunged at the second Mashirao, the one with the cut on his face, and grabbed his tail before launching her feet at the ground. A set of hooks came out of the soles of her shoes and held her feet to the ground as muscle fibers reconnected her to them and pulled. The two of them were yanked to the ground and she slammed the second Mashirao to the ground.

"Huh?" Mashirao said as Izuku turned and threw the second Mashirao at him. He schooled his face and spun, lashing out with his tail to bat the second Mashirao into a pile of rubble. "What was that all about!?"

She straightened up and bowed. "Sorry, I had to see which one of you was real!"

The second Mashirao groaned and pulled himself out of the rubble before shaking his head. "Well do it in a way that's not going to get us killed by this psycho!" He said, but Izuku shook her head at him. The two looked at her for a moment before she pointed at the second one. "What?"

"You're the fake."

The second Mashirao blinked at her before dissolving, literally, into a puddle of gray sludge and revealing Himiko Toga. She licked her lips as she looked at Izuku, she should have known it wouldn't work. People can always tell the ones they love apart. "What gave me away, was it my eyes, did you see my love?"

Izuku repressed a shiver as Mashirao lept over to her. "Come on, we need to-"

"There actually is someone else here you know..." Himiko said as she grinned widely, the karambit style blade in her hand as she ran a thumb over it. She swayed her head side to side as she looked at them freeze up. "A third person, he looked pretty helpless around girls with that book..."

More sludge formed around her body, reshaping her into Izuku. "... I wonder how easy it'd be to get him." She said with Izuku's voice, Izuku's face. She grinned widely, giving Izuku a manic look, it made Izuku squirm uncomfortably. It didn't look right, it scared her seeing herself with that face. "If you really want to go get help that's fine, but you're going alone, Izuku's mine, she's already inside me and I'm not going to let her go!"

Izuku swallowed as the girl continued with her face, her voice, but all wrong. "You can stay and I'll blind you both again and get away to find that boy, or you can leave to get help while Izuku and I show our love for each other," Himiko said as she licked her lips. As she did her eyes nearly rolled back, she was licking Izuku's lips, her lips, she could hardly believe it. She just needed to get the boy to leave. "Well, what'll it be Tailman."

"Please stop ruining that name for me," Mashirao said, trying to hide the fact that the girl was getting to him. He didn't know Izuku well, they'd had encounters over the week sure but they were classmates, not friends. Despite that it felt like a ball of lead was in his stomach, holding him there as he looked at the lunatic wearing his classmate's skin, demanding he leave so she can further hurt said classmate. He clenched his fists as Izuku took a few steps forward. "What are you doing!?"

Izuku turned to him and smiled, he didn't like that smile, it didn't look right. It looked the smiles he'd give himself in the mirror as a kid, telling himself the other kids were wrong, that a tail is all a hero needs. "I'll be okay, I was holding her off pretty well before," Izuku said before turning towards Himiko again.

He grit his teeth and looked down before turning around, he needed to find a way out of here, get help, and get back. "Damn it..."

Himiko's grin went wide as the boy jumped away with his tail, spinning in the jump. "Oh, so that's what I mi-" She said as Izuku rushed at her, interrupting her with a punch that Himiko sidestepped. Himiko pouted as she turned the knife in her hand and swung her arm, catching the corner of Izuku's mouth. The knife cut through her cheek and nearly reached her earlobe before Izuku turned and punched Himiko in the armpit. "You shouldn't interrupt me, healthy relationships need communication!"

Himiko jumped back before Izuku could follow up with another punch and rolled her shoulder. "I don't think anything involving you would be healthy," Izuku said as red muscle strings pulled her cheek closed, giving her the appearance of a twisted smirk. Himiko giggled at the comment and licked her lips.

"You're probably right, but who likes boring healthy things when you can having something exciting, it's like choosing between liver and ice cream!" Himiko said before rushing towards Izuku, her eyes wide with excitement. Izuku took two steps back as Himiko closed in before taking a single step forward and bending backward as Himiko went for the strike. Himiko blinked as Izuku went under her arm before feeling a hand on the back of the costume she'd formed by transforming into Izuku.

Himiko choked a bit as the collar of Izuku's hero costume suddenly came up to her neck and she was thrown into the air. She still felt the hand on her back, and then another tug. "False Gravity!" Izuku said as her muscle strings dragged her hand, and Himiko, back down to ground level. She let go and let the momentum throw Himiko to the ground, getting a shout from the girl villain as she bounced off the ground, then followed with a flip kick to slam her back into the ground.

Himiko however still had enough wits about her after being thrown into the ground to protect her head with one arm, and then bury the blade of her knife into Izuku's leg with the other arm. She tore the knife out, tearing through Izuku's calf before flipping the blade into an extended grip and trying to cut at Izuku's face. "Stop- making this difficult!" She said as Izuku tilted her head back to avoid the knife. Izuku rolled and jumped back onto her feet as her calf stitched itself back together.

Pushing herself up, the blonde villain deactivated her transformation, gray sludge rolling off of her. She scooped up a handful and threw it at Izuku's eyes before transforming into Mashirao and rushing forward, turning on her heel and slamming her new tail into Izuku's side. There was a crunching noise as the mass of muscle struck Izuku, throwing her to the ground. Izuku's muscles rushed around her ribs to hold them in place as Himiko jumped on top of Izuku and straddled her before releasing her transformation.

The resulting gray sludge enveloped Izuku, blinding her as Himiko giggled and started stabbing wildly at the girl underneath her before two hands came out of the sludge and grabbed her hair. Izuku pulled down and brought her head up, slamming her forehead into Himiko's nose. There was a wet crunch as the cartilage in Himiko's nose broke and blood immediately poured from the girl's nostrils. Himiko ripped herself out of Izuku's hand, droplets of blood flying through the air as her head escaped Izuku's grip, leaving a few clumps of hair in Izuku's hands. "Ah, my nose, if you wanted some blood from me you could have just a-!"

Himiko coughed as Izuku used one hand to prop herself up a bit before swinging her other hand in Himiko's general direction, hitting her in the throat. Confirming where her opponent was, she punched again, this time catching her across the face and forcing her off before straddling Himiko and shaking the sludge off her head. "Oh, you just wanted a turn on to-"

Izuku punched her just under the left eye, getting a sharp yelp of pain from Himiko as the cheekbone fractured. Himiko responded by trying to stab at Izuku's face, only for the green haired zombie to lean her head back and then bite down on Himiko's hand, getting the girls middle and index fingers in her mouth. "Haa, did you want a taste of me too-AGH!" Himiko said before screaming in pain as Izuku bit down, crushing the proximal and middle phalanges in the two fingers. Himiko responded by activating the syringe on that arm.

The needle ejected out, going into Izuku's mouth and then stabbing into the back of her throat. Rather than recoil Izuku instead bit down harder and twisted her head, forcing Himiko's hand open and getting her to drop the knife. As she did Himiko stabbed into the side of her abdomen with the other syringe before pulling her hand and syringe out of Izuku's mouth.

There was a tearing sound, and for a moment Himiko thought she'd lost her fingers before the pain grew worse, getting another cry of pain from her. She grinned through the pain. "I drink from you while you eat me up... aren't we perfect?" She said before she pulled her syringe out of Izuku's side and started punching at her face repeatedly, despite two of her fingers flailing limply in one fist. "You just need to bleed more for me, I've been so giving, letting you hit and bite me, give me something too!"

Izuku reached out with one hand to grab one of the hands punching her while biting down on the wrist of the other. She then grabbed the girls neck, pushing down and squeezing. Himiko squirmed under her, trying to free one of her hands or throw Izuku off of her. Dark spots started to enter her vision, and so she let her eyes roll back and slowly stopped fighting back before falling limp. Izuku held on for a bit longer before letting go, she took a few shallow breaths before opening her eyes and trusting both syringes forward.

Izuku's vision went black as the girl's syringes when into her eyes, causing her to recoil. She felt the needles slide out of her eyes as she did, as well as Himiko move under her before her right ear started ringing loudly and she was knocked onto her side. Her vision came back blurry and colorless, letting her see a gray blob where Himiko was getting up and coming towards her. She kicked her legs out and managed to catch Himiko in the stomach as her vision started to clear up and color returned.

Himiko took a few coughing breaths as she looked at Izuku, there were splotches all over her face from where she'd punched her, as well as wet tracks on her cheeks, a set of stitches on her mouth giving her a smirk, and an expression of fear. There was also the beginnings of a trail of blood coming from the corner of her mouth, it was almost perfect, it just needed more. She went to take a step when pain wracked her body, she covered her mouth and coughed. It sounded wet and she felt something warm move through her throat.

Pulling her hand in front of her face, Himiko saw blood on her hand. She coughed again and saw red spittle fly to the ground in front of her. She grimaced, she couldn't take much more, but Izuku was right in front of her... She clenched her fist and started to move forward. "Look, what you've done to me... why don't you get it... I love you, Izuku, you need to be me..." She said as she stepped forward, running her tongue over her bloodstained lips. "I need to be you..."

Izuku picked herself up at Himiko limped towards her. She wasn't sure how the girl was still moving, broken nose, bruises, the side of her face was starting to swell and there was blood from her mouth and nose. Izuku looked at Himiko's hands and saw the two fingers she bit were hanging limp, and the wrist of her other hand had small punctures where her canines had broken the girl's skin. That the wounds were still there meant this girl didn't have a regeneration quirk to go with her transformations. "Just stop, you're beaten and need medical attention!"

Himiko's grin grew wider. "Awh, you do ca-"

 _Crash!_

From behind Himiko, a section of the wall shattered as a large, dented, purple door crashed through it, sending debris all around them. Izuku felt a rise in temperature around her as the hole in the wall brought in new, more oxygenated air into the Fire Zone. Izuku dropped back to the ground and covered the back of her neck and head with her arms while the flames surged towards the opening, catching the too injured to react quickly Himiko. Izuku waited for the heat on her back to disappear and slowly rose up.

Himiko's was on the ground, her body twitching slightly, her hair charred and her skin a pale white. It looked dry and there were open blisters dotting her face, hands, and arms. Her bodysuit was mostly burned off and her newly exposed areas were red and covered in blisters. Izuku fought back the urge to vomit at the sight and looked for other signs of life.

The girl's chest was moving with shallow breaths, and Izuku moved towards her slowly. The girl didn't respond, and Izuku propped her up against one of the pieces of rubble left from the door smashing through the dome. Once the girl was propped up Izuku carefully removed any stray bits of cloth, tubing, or otherwise from the girl's burns before pulled out some gauze from a hidden pocket in her skirt. She gently wrapped the pale dry areas, recognizing them as third-degree burns from a lecture Recovery Girl had given after the first set of battle trials.

Once the wounds were covered, she went over to the hole in the dome and looked out, seeing ice, explosions, and black fog. Then a shockwave threw the fog away and broke up the ice, revealing All-Might was taking center stage. She gripped the front of her hero outfit as she felt a tinge of safety in her heart. Then a monster covered in blood rushed at him and the two were trading blows, the monster was keeping up... and then it punched All-Might's side, where she'd seen his old injury.

For a moment, she saw Kokku and Rakkashoni again and she clenched her fists.

She looked back at Himiko sadly. "I... I'll let them know you're here, I promise. I'll help you get better." She said before rushing out towards the central plaza.

* * *

"What the fuck!?"

Momo could admit, as much as she disliked such vulgar language... she couldn't think of a better way to ask why exactly a Yacht had just dropped out of the sky. She wasn't going to question it now though, not with one of her classmates currently in the hands of a now distracted villain. She created a bronze discus and spun, flinging it at the villain who was now looking at the yacht that just landed behind him and not the two of them.

 _Crack!_

The large metal disk struck home, bashing into the back of the villains head and dropping him like a light. Kyoka ran forward to check on Denki while Momo rushed over to make sure the villain was in fact out cold. Once that was confirmed she created some duct tape and wrapped it around the villain's wrists. She looked up to see Minoru looking down at her. "What took you so long?" She said as she stood up and looked at him. He turned red and disappeared while Ochaco appeared over the edge of the ship and floated herself down.

"Sorry... we had a moments trouble getting the ship in a good spot to fly when it landed in the ruins..."

"Eh, perfect timing if you ask me, this dunce was about to get shanked by the guy blocking communications... at least we think it was this guy, he has an electricity quirk."

"Wey!"

Ochaco blinked at the sight of Denki giving thumbs up at her with the dopiest look she's ever seen, and put her hands over her mouth to hold back laughs as Tsuyu jumped down to join them. "What's with him?"

Momo shook her head. "No idea, he let off a big shock that took out most of the villains but he's been like this since." She said, now actually taking a moment to look over Denki. Another moment passed by and he shook his head, his face reverting to normal. "Is everything alright?"

Denki smiled and nodded. "Yeah, sorry about that, I went over my limit and might have... short-circuited my brain... heh... that always sounds so much worse after I say it." He said as Kyoka, Ochaco, and Tsuyu all looked at him with a mix of shock and horror. Momo though just... nodded back at him? "... That doesn't bother you?"

"Izuku regularly dismembers herself when encountering high shelves and distant objects and Osore plays hide and seek by sticking forks into electrical outlets," Momo said, before her face became concerned, then scared before she looked to Ochaco and Tsuyu. "Did either of you see Izuku on the way here?"

They shook their heads and Momo sighed anxiously before looking up to the ship. "What about you, Minoru, did you see her?!"

"I see her now... you're not going to like it..." Minoru said, and Momo immediately climbed up the side of the boat and found where he was looking. The central plaza was covered in ice and black fog, but at the center was All-Might, who was trading blows with a monster that was slowly re-growing its skin. Between them and the fire zone was a certain green-haired zombie, running at full speed. "She's... she's going after the villains, we need to get the others and get this thing over there!"

She nodded and opened the bottom half of her top, exposing her stomach fully as the front of her abdomen started sparkling. "I have an idea, get them up here!"

* * *

Izuku's cuffs sliced off her hands as she flung her arms forward, sending said hands flying through the air towards a large piece of broken ice, as large as a boulder. As she regained feeling in her hands she grabbed the ice and stopped, the hooks in her shoes extending again to anchor her as she pulled it to her. She flung the large ice boulder at the large monster once it and All-Might separated. The monster's arm moved to the side and punched the boulder as it came, shattering it instantly.

"Now hold on, this is between two really high-level players, wouldn't want you getting damaged would we?"

She turned her head to see a taller man with light blue hair and disembodied hands on his arms, legs, and face. "I finally get to meet you... no Himiko huh... oh well, maybe that works better..." He said before reaching out to grab her, one finger pulled back further than the others.

Her shoe hooks pulled back into her soles and she jumped back before villain could grab her. The villain pulled his hand back to his jawline and started scratching. "Oh yeah, sorry about that... supposed to start with an introduction when you're recruiting a new teammate, I'm Tomura Shigara-"

The villain was interrupted and forced to dodge to the side as a concentrated blast of explosive energy flew over Izuku's shoulder and towards his face. "Damn bastard, get away from her!" Katsuki said as he ran up and put himself between Izuku and Tomura. He tilted his head toward Izuku, still keeping Tomura in his line of sight. "And what are you doing here, idiot!?"

"I came to help, I can fight too!" Izuku said, getting a scoff from Katsuki. He then grinned before as he held his hands up towards Tomura, palms flat and crackling as he did. He rushed in, keeping body low as he ran at the villain. Tomura's face was hard to make out thanks to the hand he wore, but his eyes screamed boredom and annoyance.

"Stay out of this!" Tomura said, running forward to meet the boy. Katsuki's grin widened as he brought his hands together, preparing to spark the nitroglycerin on his palms. Tomura's hand reached out, preparing to grab Katsuki's as his eyes followed Izuku, who had jumped over her blond friend and extended her leg in a flying kick. Before they could meet a shockwave threw them to the ground. Tomura looked to the source to see All-Might and Nomu punching each other repeatedly. "Idiot, his quirks shock absorption remember!?"

"Says the idiot not paying attention!" Katsuki said as he pushed himself back up and set off his quirk, The blast knocked Tomura back, throwing off the hand covering his face. Before Katsuki could attempt to follow up, ice formed between them. "The hell, You half-assed Fuck we had him!"

Shoto gave the boy a glare before looking at Izuku, who was starting to stand up. "That's not important, we need to get you away from here." He said before tightening his jaw and looking at Katsuki. "Right now All-Might is taking care of the monster, which leaves Eraserhead to deal with the fog, but he'll blink eventually. The villains in the area I was sent to mentioned their leader is after Izuku, she's not safe here."

Katsuki growled before nodding to Shoto. "Well, what are you waiting for Half-Ass, get her out of here!" He said just before the ice behind them burst into a flurry of ice and Tomura rushed at Katsuki. His face was twisted with rage and his eyes were near bulging from their sockets. "The hell-"

"You bastard!" Tomura said as reached for Katsuki's face, because of him Father was missing, what was he supposed to do without Father!? Before he could reach the boy however someone else was standing between them. Izuku put herself between Tomura and Katsuki, getting wide eyes from both boys. Tomura's hand clamped around Izuku's mouth as Katsuki grabbed her shoulder to try and pull her away.

Izuku let out a strangled noise as she felt the flesh around her mouth and cheeks dry out, crack, and flake away. The skin of her lips and cheeks gave way, exposing her jaw and the muscles attached as she was pulled out of Tomura's grip, the skin he was holding onto turning into dust. More ice formed to separate them and Katsuki tossed her to Shoto. "Get her out of here, now!" Katsuki said as he aimed his left grenadier gauntlet at the ice. As cracks started to form he turned the dial on the bracer, setting it fifty percent before slipping a finger into the loop of the pin. "Go!"

Shoto looked at Katsuki, confused as to why the boy was prioritizing Izuku's health after what he'd seen. It didn't make sense... no, it did make sense, he was acting like a hero to keep her from leaving him when this ended and getting a chance at glory. If he got hurt, it could be pinned on Shoto for leaving him behind or Izuku for being weak, as his father had done numerous times. Still, he scooped the girl up in a bridal carry and examined her to see how bad it was. Strands of muscle stretched out, waving around as if looking for something before weaving around the damaged, but still there, skin, leaving her teeth and gums visible in a morbid grin.

He'd worry about how to get her away from the blond later, he needed to get her out of this fight. "I'll keep her safe." He said just before the ice burst and Katsuki pulled the pin on his gauntlet, blasting Tomura again before he could make a move against them. As the blast went off Shoto formed a pillar of ice under his feet and launched himself and Izuku away from the fight. As they moved another shockwave rang through the area, shattering the ice and throwing them off course. Shoto pulled Izuku close and formed a shell of ice over the two of them before they crashed into the ground.

* * *

Eraserhead grit his teeth as he shut his eyes for a moment before reopening them on the warp quirk user. He thought he might have heard one of the other villains call him Kurogiri, he'd remember that for later, right now he needed to keep the villain from supporting his allies. Another explosion reminded him that not only was one of his students fighting but that Thirteen was still out of commission, a shockwave reminded him that All-Might was dealing with the big one. It wasn't until the shockwaves got so intense he was forced to keep his eyes shut that he was reminded why he hates dealing with superpower quirks. He could barely hear over the sound of fists hitting flesh, but the lack of portals made Eraserhead realize the force of the hits alone were keeping the warp quirk at bay.

Using the moment he kept his eyes shut, let them rest after the long period he'd kept them open, and instead tried to listen. When the sound of earth cracking became clear he opened his eyes again and found Kurogiri, reactivating his quirk before the villain could support the monster. The ground shook as he heard All-Might roar and the monster was brought back down to earth. He wanted to be hopeful, but that monster was taking a lot of hits with no end in sight. All-Might was already overusing his quirk, if he didn't finish this soon he'd revert and then they were screwed.

Unbeknownst to him, All-Might was thinking the same thing. Unfortunately, he was having trouble actually bringing the power needed forward. He'd been without the power of One for All for just over ten months now and to fan the embers of that power greatly enough to end this he needed some breathing room. Easier said than done with a monster is punching back at you with just as much if not more power. ** _'Damn it, I can't fail here, if I fall now there won't be enough time to usher in a new Symbol for this world to stand alongside!'_**

"Get Juiced!"

Boom!

He jumped back from the monster just as the blast rang out, hopeful that whatever that was would buy him a moment to catch his breath. The Nomu barely had time to screech as a projectile slammed into it's back and exploded. All-Might risked a look up to see what had launched the projectile to see three of his students, Minoru, Momo, and Ochaco, at the bow of a flying ship with an artillery cannon. "Yeah, see what happens when you mess with the best!?" Minoru said as Momo smirked, the belts over her chest and around her waist looking a bit tighter as she forms another round and loads it into the artillery cannon. They aimed the cannon once more and fired another round as All-Might calmed his breathing. "Take that you freaky bird man... please don't tell Fumikage I said that."

Momo made a show of thinking about it before the ship began to fall forward, prompting Minoru to climb onto the artillery cannon and cup his hands around his mouth. "Abandon Ship!" He said before Ochaco grabbed him by the wrist along with Momo, a faint pink glow revealing the activation of her quirk before she jumped off the yacht with them in hand and removed her own gravity. From the back of the boat, Tsuyu leaped with Kyoka and Denki in tow. The dust and smoke began to clear from the initial artillery shells, letting All-Might watch as the ship crashed into it's back and began to splinter before it truly hit the ground, creating another dust cloud.

 ** _'These kids, they're fighting against seemingly impossible odds without fear, I suppose I should be thankful Mirio accepted the mantle of the Next Symbol of Peace or I'd be spoiled for choice.'_** All-Might thought to himself as he cracked the index and middle finger on his right hand, and then the index finger on his left. In his peripheral, he saw Eraserhead move closer while keeping his eyes on the warp quirk user. He took a breath before rushing forward towards the cloud of dust just as the monster rushed towards him, sheets of fiberglass sticking out of it's back. **"You've heard the words, but here's what they really mean!"**

He ducked under a punch from the monster and buried his fist into the Nomu's stomach as Eraserhead turned his eyes to it, deactivating its quirks. Without its shock absorption, the force of the blow folded the creature around his arm. The wounds on it's back from the yacht spread and peeled, flesh ripping into much bigger wounds and causing the fiberglass to shoot out of its body, riding the initial shockwave. **"Go Beyond, Plus-"** All-Might said as he followed through with the rest of the motion, extending his arm completely and launching the Nomu through the USJ Facility's ceiling. **"-Ultra!"**

The rest of the glass began to shatter around the exit point, raining down on them like small pieces of sharp hail. Tomura looked on in shock as Kurogiri took the chance to warp in close while his quirk was still active. "Master Tomura, we need to leave, now," Kurogiri said as he created a fog around the two of them thick enough to prevent Eraserhead from canceling his quirk again. "They have reinforcements coming and have managed to outnumber us as it is."

"Damn it, they must have cheated, we had everything put together perfectly, there shouldn't be a counter strat!" Tomura said, his hands coming up to his hairline as he started scratching. They had the best thugs, the perfect counter Nomu, the element of surprise, everything! There had to be something he was missing, some method to achieve victory. He heard a crack and turned his head. That girl, Izuku, was picking herself up from a shell of ice and rubbing her head. "Unless... there's the key to it all... she's not an optional bonus, she's the main goal."

Before Kurogiri could react to Tomura's comment the blue-haired villain was already moving. Izuku stood up and raised her head only to see Tomura's hand inches from her face, the boy grinning wildly as he rushed forward. Eraserhead deactivated the man's quirk, only for him to take it in stride and grab her face. She grabbed his arm to pull herself free but that worked just as well as he pulled his arm. "I get it now, you were the quest objective the whole time and the completion reward is All-Might's decaying cor-"

Bang!

A bullet tore through Tomura's shoulder, blood exploding outward as the sudden agony gave Izuku the moment she needed to pull away from the villain. Once she did a golden One Million on a white chest filled her view as she was picked up and carried away from the fight. **"Sorry we're late, are you guys okay?"**

She looked up to see Mirio with a visor over his eyes and two plates over his ears, a red cape, and a white top with a golden One Million and golden shoulders with light green stripes. His hair was a bit spikier than she remembered, and his eyes were shining like little bulbs. She reached up and covered her face, specifically her now missing cheeks.

"Indeed, you might have been able to get the jump on us but now you're outnumbered by a wide margin. I recommend you surrender and save us all a lot of trouble."

Izuku turned again to see a large number of pro heroes, U.A's faculty in its entirety had arrived. Tomura growled before roaring in frustration as the fog spun around him once more, pulling him into a warp gate. Snipe used the sound to estimate Tomura's location in the fog and fired another few rounds, but when the fog disappeared there wasn't any blood, no disabled villains, they were gone.

Izuku looked at the location they'd disappeared from as muscle fibers moved and wove themselves into makeshift cheeks and lips, wondering why they'd seemed so interested in her.

* * *

A small light flickered red on Himiko's blood draining gear, before a dark fog swirled around her and she disappeared.

* * *

 **Long fights are hard...**

 _ **Omake : Dadzu part 2**_

The first hint was actually rather subtle. All-Might had been sitting outside contemplating how to go about Mirio's training when Izuku arrived and sat next to him. She asked how he was doing, spoke with him, and gave him a small bamboo steamer basket filled with fresh nikuman while she ate her own. When he choked on a bite due to an offhand comment about how she caught a ball by throwing her hand at it, she gave him a cup of green tea.

The second hint was a bit more blunt, and he really should have put it together then. All-Might had been teaching English in the place of Present Mic when the man came down with a cough. While it might not seem like a big enough reason to not work, when Present Mic coughs windows shatter and people go deaf. While he had been teaching, Nezu walked into the classroom and put a bento box on her desk. She'd apparently forgotten her lunch.

The third hint... well, the third hint was written on a sign and repeated bashed into his face. It had happened when All-Might decided to visit the principal during a lunch hour. He had turned to the hallway his office was off of to see Izuku and Nezu talking about the benefits of adding a nature class to help students learn how to act around wild animals in the event a villain or hero's collateral causes an environmental disaster, such as a wildfire or an oil spill. At first it seemed normal, then he blinked and they both had tea saucers and cups of hot tea. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he saw that right, they were sitting on one of the benches in front of the office with tea, a plate of biscuits, and nikuman.

He took a step closer and made his presence known, they both turned to him in unison and asked what he thought about the subject. When he sat down and joined the conversation he found a plate of nikuman and a cup of tea on a saucer in his hands. They spoke about how to set up the training area, and the bell rang for Izuku to head to class. "Oh, I have to go, goodbye All-Might, Dadzu!"

The fourth hint was built into a bat and slammed into his gut, making him spit his tea across the hall as the little mouse, bear, dog... Principal, started laughing at him.


	19. My Hero Psychologist

_Welcome to UA Arc : My Hero Psychologist_

* * *

"Eraserhead," Nezu said as the underground hero was checked out by medical staff. "What happened?"

Everyone had been evacuated from the building, Thirteen had been taken away for more direct treatment, as they'd yet to wake up. Aizawa looked at the principal and sighed as a man in uniform wrapped gauze around his elbow.

"A number of unknown villains managed to put together a coordinated strike team, jamming communications in and out of the facility. Students responded better than expected, pulling together and defending themselves before moving to rendezvous with each other." He said. The principal gestured for him to go on. "While the attack was well planned, they didn't seem to know who to send where, as part of how the students were able to counter-attack so quickly was due to them being sent to environments they were able to use to their advantage. That implies while the enemy was able to obtain blueprint information, the people in charge of planning the assault didn't have any information on our students."

Nezu nodded. "And the ones in charge of the attack?"

"Known Villain Black Fog, he's been under the radar for a little over a decade. Two other unknown villains, according to the students the one who appeared to be in charge introduced himself as Tomura Shigaraki. Said villain also admitted to wanting to kill All-Might using a particular monster they brought along with them."

"Monster?"

"Skin like ink, muscles that looked denser than All-Might's, a brass beak, no eyelids, and an exposed brain," Aizawa said as Nezu's tail started to flick. Nezu wasn't fond of the word, the fact had slipped Aizawa's mind. Nezu nodded, accepting the terminology as acceptable in this case. "Thanks to my quirk canceling its regenerative abilities, as well as any shock absorption capacities it had, All-Might was able to deal with it before it could be loosed on any of the students."

Nezu went to scratch his own chin as Toshinori sighed, Mirio standing next to him. "Multiple quirks, mindless... it's a good thing you've passed your powers on, it sounds like another storm is coming." Nezu said. Mirio looked from the teachers to the students of class 1A. Izuku was being examined by Recovery Girl, he winced at how her face had been ruined from the lips down because he hadn't made it in time. Hopefully, she'd be able to fix her.

* * *

Katsuki's knuckles were white as he clenched his fists, Izuku had jumped in front of an attack meant for him and her face was damaged. He'd promised himself he wouldn't be the reason she got hurt anymore and yet the first time they encounter a proper villain together, she gets hurt.

"Hey, are you alright?" Kirishima said as he walked up next to the explosive teen. He grinned and gave Katsuki a thumbs up when the boy didn't respond. "Man, I thought you were crazy at first but that combo off the ship was awesome."

Katsuki took a breath as he relaxed his hands. "It wasn't good enough, people still got hurt." He said, only to get an arm around his shoulders.

"Yeah, but that just means we'll have to do better, that's why we're here right?" Kirishima said. Katsuki's eye twitched at the contact, but at the same time, the redhead had a point. They were heroes in training, and they got hurt facing villains who thought themselves prepared for All-Might...

"Plus you totally had that fog dude on the ropes with that barrage from the boat!"

"Heh, if you say so... Red Rocket."

"Ack, Seriously!?"

Katsuki walked towards Izuku, who was currently chewing on a bone in pork chop, Lunch Rush must have sent some food along with the group. Considering Momo's quirk he wasn't surprised, and Izuku tended to get hungrier when she got creative with her quirk. As he got closer a police officer blocked his path. "Huh, do you want something?"

The officer had the head of a cat and was holding a stylus and tablet.

"Katsuki Bakugou right, I'm Officer Sansa. I have a few questions for you if you don't mind." The Officer said as he tapped his tablet with the stylus. The whiskers on Sansa's face twitched as he spoke. "According to the student you were just speaking with, you launched an attack on the villains in the facility, correct?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

Sansa wrote something on this tablet. "And you targetted one of the more important members of the villain force, one Black Fog, almost as soon as the invasion began?"

"So?"

Sansa gave Katsuki a narrow-eyed look before continuing. "You then targeted the same villain from an ambush later, despite knowing they were a villain capable of warping people from one place to another, and that initial attack being ineffective." He said before jabbing his stylus in Izuku's direction. "Before rushing to rendezvous with your classmate?"

"When I saw my teacher had his hands full I decided to try and lighten the load, once he had a grip on things I moved to make sure my classmate wasn't in danger," Katsuki said. Sansa just continued to jot down notes. After a moment the officer stopped and looked at Katsuki again. "Is that all?"

"So, you attack a villain, continue attacking the same one when it's proven ineffective, and then when he's got an eye on you rush over to someone on the monitor list," Sansa said. "Said person also being one they've admitted to having their eyes on."

Katsuki looked at the officer in disbelief, did he just- "You've got to be kidding, are you seriously accusing me of working with villains!?" Katsuki said. A tingling sensation in his hand let him know he was literally about to explode. "She got hurt because they tried to kill me and she jumped in the way!"

Sansa shook his head and put the tablet away. "I didn't say anything about accusing-"

"Excuse me officer, but I'm going to need him for a moment." Recovery Girl said as she walked by Sansa, barely sparing him a glance before grabbing Bakugou's arm and tugging him away. Sansa blinked at the hero half dragging Katsuki over to Izuku before letting out a huff and moving to question one of the other students. "Don't judge him too harshly dear, with her being on the monitor list everyone is on edge. This is the first time U.A. has been attacked so brazenly."

"So we're just going to start pointing fingers at each other?" Katsuki said as he pulled his arm from the old heroine's grip. The two stopped halfway over to where Izuku was sitting.

"Keep in mind you're not without blemishes on your background. She might not care about it much but her attempt did get your old school investigated. You might not have a record of criminal activity, but your background has you going to a junior high school now known for ignoring villainous tendencies."

"I don't have a- How do I not have a record!?" Katsuki said. Izuku died because he was a dick, how does he not have a record!?

Recovery Girl huffed and waved her hand dismissively. "You nearly did, however, once the investigation of your school was completed anything that would have been attached was removed." She said before reaching into one of her coat pockets and pulling out a Pez dispenser. "Just as you can't blame a child for a weak understanding of Japanese when their parents are from another country, you can't be blamed for teachers actively teaching you to see others a certain way."

When Katsuki opened his mouth to respond, Recovery Girl continued. "Also, her monitor, Gunhead, along with one of the heroes under his employ, vouched for you. Take it from me boy, everyone makes mistakes, it's how we respond and learn from them that show our true character."

"A hero like you, making mistakes?"

"It's hard not to when your quirk relies on the affected party's own physical capacities. So many think my quirk would do wonders if they could just ship me to every hospital or natural disaster, they don't think about what would happen if I gave a kiss to those who struggle to stay awake." Recovery Girl said as she held out the dispenser and popped two pieces of candy into Katsuki's hand. "There's a reason a hero of my age and caliber stays here at U.A. young man, your bodies are still growing, it's easier for you to heal. But someone with a truly grievous injury, someone hit by a car at speed or caught up in a fight between hero and villain... my quirk would only make things worse for them."

Katsuki winced and found his shoes a bit more interesting. "... Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, and don't eat both of those, dearie. The second one is for your redheaded friend coming towards us now." Recovery Girl said before her lips extended forward and lightly pecked his cheek. "If you think a bag of Halloween candy is bad, you won't need that anti-gravity classmate of yours to reach the moon."

Katsuki felt his eyelids starting to droop so he popped one of the candies into his mouth. He turned to where Recovery Girl was going to see her lips extend and press against Eijiro's cheek. The redhead stumbled a bit before slouching.

"Hey, Red Rocket, eat this." He said, tossing the candy to Kirishima. He noticed a shine come from Eijiros hair and poked one of the spikes. "Also, seriously, hardening is your quirk and you throw so much gel in your hair it's solid?"

"It's not like I can do it with my quirk, I'd have to have it up for hours!"

"Why not? Trying to stay hard all the time would be good stamina training... Red Rocket."

"Argh!"

* * *

Izuku finished swallowing the last piece of pork she'd been given, her senses coming back to her just in time to hear Mirio, who was sitting next to her, holding back laughter. She looked up at him and followed his gaze to find Katsuki and Eijiro talking about... Eijiro's hair?

"What's so funny, Kacchan's not wrong, having to keep his quirk up to keep his hair up instead of gel would be good stamina training."

"Don't worry about it!" Mirio said as he turned towards Izuku. He gave a bit of a nervous laugh before scratching the back of his head. "It was something he said before... it reminded me of something my teacher said to me."

Izuku blinked at him in confusion before shrugging and feeling her cheeks. They were still made of muscle instead of skin, but she felt more skin around the edges than before.

"Oh, right... I have just the thing!" Mirio said before turning to his side and pulling something from a small box next to him. He held out the object to reveal a medical mask with the image of a large grin on it. "It's an All-Might Medical Mask!"

Mirio watched as Izuku's eyes twinkled before she grabbed and started inspecting the mask. It was a bit funny to watch, sure he'd heard from Katsuki that she had a lot of All-Might memorabilia but the mask hardly counted. They could be bought almost everywhere and yet she was still looking over it like it was a precious object. Still, she put it over her face and looped the elastic loops behind her ears to hold it in place. "There we go, good as new!"

Izuku looked up at him, the image of All-Mights grin right where her mouth would be. Somehow it fit, the image of such a large grin on her face. After a moment, however, Mirio came to a terrifying realization. With nothing more than naked muscle under the mask, traces of blood were getting onto the mask. He hadn't thought about it because blood hadn't been spilling down her jaw and neck from her cheeks and lips. There was still blood on her lips and cheeks, which in turn got onto the mask and gave the grinning image a much more sinister appearance.

A set of bloodstained teeth and a crimson red clown smile from ear to ear, to be specific.

"Hey, Izuku, are you feeling any be- What the Fuck!?"

Mirio winced as Izuku turned to see her friend, Katsuki, and in turn, showed him what had happened to the medical mask. Next to him, a boy with red, spiky hair fell backward in what was likely a dead faint. Mirio laughed nervously as the explosive blond stopped over and pulled the mask from her face. "Maybe... that wasn't my best idea..." Mirio said as Katsuki pointed at the mask and Izuku looked at it in horrified shock. "I've made a terrible mistake..."

* * *

"Damn it!"

Kurogiri could hear Tomura in the next room. The young villain was throwing something of a tantrum due to their failure to kill All-Might with the Nomu, losing the Nomu, and the failed attempt to kidnap the child U.A. was safeguarding. All and all, it was a mess.

Thankfully, despite their failures, there were no major losses amongst their ranks. The only valuable one, Himiko Toga, was thankfully easy enough to recover due to her equipment having a tracer built in. Now came the part of saving her.

He gave a humored chuckle as he used his warp quirk to get to her bones without actually cutting her open, forcing bones back into alignment before using small screws and metal plates to hold them together. A villain saving someone with their quirk, an irony like none other. Once her broken bones were back in place and any major internal wounds at the very least minimalized, it was time for the hard part.

A portal opened up and a bald man with a greying mustache came into the room wearing scrubs, a medical mask, nitrile rubber gloves, and a set of brass goggles. "I leave her recovery to you, Doctor."

The old man nodded to Kurogiri and walked over to Himiko. "Do not worry, she'll recover just fine. I wouldn't be able to look myself in the mirror of one of my projects only got this far." He said as he looked down at the burnt and unconscious girl. "I already have two failures on my record, one running off to become a hero rather than becoming enlightened, and then my activities being found out... the damned traitor will get what's coming to her..."

Kurogiri left the doctor to his patient and headed back to the bar. Tomura would come out of his room soon, state they need better players, better gear, the usual demands. He checked the news for any snippets about disappearances or failures by heroes to capture villains. The more he had to work with before contacting Giran, the better.

* * *

The following days were easier than expected. The USJ was the subject for various debates on every news channel, most news guests commenting on it being proof that U.A. was the best possible hero school. Ryo Inui could admit to finding it a bit funny that they thought All-Might was an amazing teacher.

 _"After all, according to reports, those kids took down over a hundred villains! If that's not proof they're getting the best training from the best teacher U.A. has to offer, the Number One Hero himse-"_

He took his television remote and turned the television off before putting the remote away. If only the press could see just how utterly awkward the man was when it came to teaching students. He took out a stack of papers and flipped through them, eventually finding the file he wanted. The file was on one Mashirao Ojiro, one of the three students Nezu was worried about the mental health of.

Hard choices are an unfortunate part of Hero work, but to learn it was a trick as well...' Ryo closed his eyes and sighed through his nose before he put the rest of the papers away. As soon as he did there was a knock on his door. "Come in."

The door opened to reveal Mashirao, and Ryo gestured for the boy to sit. For most schools, a Guidance Counselor was there to make sure students didn't do anything stupid, like drugs. In U.A., a Guidance Counselor had to be able to do a bit more, they were both the school counselor as well as the student psychologist.

At U.A. students were more prone to using their quirks even outside of hero courses, and that meant dealing with the mental repercussions when accidents happened or a quirk evolved late.

It was easier to have someone who could both help the students find success as well as overcome sudden changes in their mental or physical state, rather than separate the two jobs. He also happened to share physical features with an animal often used for therapy. His position was no accident, and coincidences don't exist in Hero work.

"First, let me say this. You're not in any trouble, everyone that was there during the attack is getting one of these talks. Yes, that includes Eraserhead, Thirteen, and even All-Might." He said as he flipped through Mashirao's file, coming to his quirk. "And I've already spoken with the classmate you were trapped with in the Fire Zone, Izuku Midoriya."

The boy stiffened a bit. "When I spoke with her about what happened, she said she was grateful that you were there."

"I wasn't, I left her alone with that lunatic."

"You left a villain to a comrade while you moved to a task you were more suited for. It might have turned out to be a trick on the villains part, but believe me when I say not only do I not blame you, I'm actually impressed." Ryo said. Mashirao looked at him with a confused and somewhat angry look on his face. "Do you know how long it took me to be able to make the decision to leave a fellow hero to face off with a villain while I used my quirk to save possible hostages?"

"... No, sir."

"I didn't figure it out until my second year as a pro-hero, if I had learned sooner, Ectoplasm would still have his legs." He said. Mashirao shook at his answer, and Ryo continued. "The two of us were sidekicks, specializing in rescue and recovery ops. My enhanced senses made tracking down where hostages or stolen goods were being held, as well as information on what might be guarding said hostages and goods."

"Ectoplasms replication made getting enough hands to quickly take down guards, release hostages, and carry stolen goods simple. Once we had them my senses could warn us about ambushes and Ectoplasms clones could take shots for VIPs. Our Haunting Hunters combo works well to this day." Ryo said before giving a big sigh. "One day, Ectoplasm moved ahead to get to a number of VIPs while I stuck back with a fellow sidekick, helping him face a villain who was trying to stop us. He told me to follow Ectoplasm and I didn't, I didn't trust my teammate to handle himself."

"He got caught in an ambush?"

"Good guess. The VIPs were just bait, the head honcho wanted to do an experiment after he heard an old legend. He caught Ectoplasm off guard and took out his legs." Ryo said. "He wanted to see if he could take Ectoplasms quirk by cutting out whatever parts of Ectoplasms body produced the material his quirk uses, along with a part of his brain."

"We got there before the man could cut Ectoplasm open, but he'd shattered the bones in his legs to keep him from running. There was no fixing that damage and the doctors decided to amputate."

"... But there wasn't anyone for me to sa-"

"You were given a situation and responded based on the information you had," Ryo said, interrupting Mashirao. "While I understand why you're mad at yourself please be aware that given the capacity of your opponent to shapeshift and for subterfuge, you made the professional decision, the same one you'd be taught to make either here or in the real world."

"Now, I'm going to go over a few things in your profile, both to verify our information is correct to the best of your knowledge as well as go over something on your profile.."

Ryo cleared his throat and looked at the papers. "Mashirao Ojiro, Age Fifteen, Male. Quirk: Tail, A Visible Mutation-Type quirk, giving you a prehensible appendage nearly as thick as your abdomen at the base, tapering off to just thicker than your thighs near the tip," He said as he flipped through the boy's file. "Your Instability rating is class three, which is the first thing Nezu wanted me to ask about. According to this aside from having a few needs such as specifically tailored clothes and seating with room for your tail, it doesn't go into how it affects your mind."

"I find it more comfortable to travel through jumping and swinging with my tail. Since such active use of my quirk goes against quirk laws in most situations without a license, the clinic I went to listed it as Class Three," Mashirao said. Ryo nodded and penned the explanation into a margin on the file. "Also, I think they said I have a dulled sense of touch so that it doesn't hurt as much to use my tail when handling coarse, hot, or otherwise uncomfortable substances."

"Thank you. Now aside from the incident between yourself, Izuku Midoriya, and the villain calling herself Himiko according to your classmate, tell me about what happened."

Mashirao toked a few breaths before speaking. "After we arrived at the USJ, a number of villains appeared through a dark fog in the middle of the area. Our teacher, Eraserhead, moved to intercept them while the assisting teacher, Thirteen, tried to evacuate us from the facility." He said. "We were intercepted by the same fog that brought the villains to us, a villain with a warp quirk. I was sent to the Fire Zone. I stuck to the alleyways and used hit and run tactics to take down any villains I saw until I came across Izuku fighting off a villain about our age."

"Himiko Toga, currently wanted for a number of murders involving the draining of their blood. Currently listed in the villain registry as The Countess."

"She had used her quirk to turn into Izuku, but there was a number of differences... the look on her face, the things she was saying... After a scuffle, her transformation ended and I took the chance to get away from her. Once I saw Izuku pull herself out of the muck I ran figuring she'd follow after me."

"Not the best move, but it worked out."

Mashirao nodded. "As it turned out, she'd gotten blood from me... Recovery Girl noticed a small puncture wound under one of my sleeves, she'd taken just enough blood to use her quirk then faked a cut on her cheek. Thankfully she didn't seem to know how I fight, Izuku pretended to turn on me and when the villain took the advantage incorrectly Izuku called her out on it."

"And then she said another student might be nearby, someone she could use Izuku's form to take advantage of and kill."

"And I ran."

"No, you didn't run, you investigated the possibility of a hostage. That has priority over villain takedowns."

"It felt like running."

* * *

"-all because my own quirk makes me unable to defend myself after just one blast!"

Denki Kaminari, Quirk: Electrification. Visible-Emitter with an Invisible-Mutation, Instability Class Four as it could cause a severe change in mental state. In Denki's case, it handicapped the connections between his brain and his body. According to his files the boy took years of training just to be able to let people know he was okay with that noise and pose he makes after using his quirks full potential. The Mutation wasn't visible without equipment, two sets of electric organs similar to those found in electric rays and catfish in his hands. There was also a much larger set in his back where most of his power actually came from.

When just one set was active, he was fine, throwing them all open however created a dangerous feedback. Thankfully his anatomy was prepared for this, and would make it more difficult for electricity to move to his vital organs and muscles so it would go the path of least resistance, outward. As a side effect, the signals his brain sent through his neural network were electrical as well. Either there'd be too much electricity coursing through him and making it difficult for his muscles to translate, similar to static on a radio, or his body closed down too hard, making it difficult to get a signal to the muscles.

"What kind of a hero can't handle his own quirk!?"

Ryo nodded with the kid, it was admittedly an actual problem. "My quirk is my own greatest weakness, the moment I do anything extreme with it I'm down for the count!" Denki said, no longer sittng but up on his feet at pacing. "People nearby, I can't use it aside from some light eletrification of my hands, surrounded, I get one shot and I'm toast if it doesn't work... insulated material isn't even that hard to get!"

Denki continued to pace, he looked distressed, annoyed at himself. "I tried to get better, my parents had me tutored from an early age in language arts hoping by making it easier I'd be able to speak while stupid. Instead all I can do is go 'weeeeeeeey' whenever I go over my limit and I can't create a shockwave unless, guess what, I go over my damn limit!"

Ryo pulled open a drawer in his desk and got a tin of small tea cookies, offering it to the boy. He said his thanks and sat down, munching on one. "Believe me, you're not the first person to have these issues. As an example, I want you to tell me what you know about Present Mic's hero equipment." He said as Denki finished off the small cookie. The boy seemed to think for a bit, which was good, he was taking the line of questioning seriously.

"He's got a leather jacket with matching pants, boots, and gloves... OH, he has a directional speaker, nice shades, as wel as elbow and knee protection!"

"The directional speaker we'll get to later, for now there's something you're missing." Ryo said. Denki blinked at him and thought about it further before his eyes lit up.

"His headphones!"

"Right, he has a set of headphones over his ears. Now why would someone with a voice quirk need headphones?" Ryo said as he watched the kid think. He wasn't sure what to expect, sure the kid had low grades compared to the rest of 1-A, but it was only the first week or so and Shota was his homeroom teacher. Lower than the rest of his class didn't exactly mean he was stupid, especially of Shota was putting up with said grades.

"I imagine they link up to devices carried by fellow heroes, letting him hear them even if he's using his quirk?"

Ryo nodded. "That's part of it, but why that design? They completely cover his ear in a job that requires a certain level of situational awareness to prevent disaster," He said. "In addition, he also has a very high collar on his jacket, one that goes up high enough to come up to his ears and partially covers them as well."

"I... I don't know, it doesn't sound all that smart when you say it like that..."

"His headphones are designed to create a noise when hit with a particular frequency both outwardly as well as directly towards his ear. Along with the large collar acting as a barrier for the sound to echo off of, the only direction his voice goes is forward. In addition it keeps him from ruining his own inner ear with his voice."

"He... can hurt himself?"

"Already did, actually, along with his mother, father, and their doctor." Ryo said. "He's pretty open about it and will be in charge of teaching your class Universal Sign eventually. He had to learn Japanese Sign Language as a kid and learned universal during his first years as a pro-hero. As time went on he managed to dull his own hearing due to a lack of control methods for his quirk at his age."

Denki sagged in the chair a bit. "I... So, I'm not just slow?"

"Practically every hero suit has some sort of device to help control the users quirk. A few examples in your own class include Katsuki Bakugo, Shoto Todoroki, Yuga Aoyama, Tsuyu Asui, and Ochaco Uraraka."

"So... I just forgot to get the right gear?"

"You still need to figure out what gear you need... that's why you're here. Learn what you can do, what you'd need to do it, and we'll help you make it happen."

"... I'm sorry I kind of lost it..."

Ryo snorted. "Take it from someone who was around when Pixie-Bob was a student, this office has seen so much worse."

* * *

"I... I couldn't do _anything_."

Toru Hagakure, Quirk: Invisibility. Visible-Mutation with an Invisible Transformation, according to scans she had the ability to move and transform her cells, causing them to redirect light as it passed through her.  
Class Two Instability, the lowest of Class 1-A, it didn't do much aside from causing her to enjoy being in the literal spotlight. From what the clinic could tell she enjoyed sunlight, bright colors, and other things as her quirk worked best when light passed through it. An invisible person in the dark is just another person and without light to refract or redirect, her quirks transformative properties were useless.

She was one of Nezu's favorites. While most of her points had come from the fact the robots couldn't target her, one moment in particular had given Nezu quite the laugh while driving Power Loader up a wall. One of the Three-Pointers had gotten behind someone and had a laser pointed straight at them, but then Toru had put herself between the three-pointer and the student and redirected the laser to a nearby wall... and the missile launchers proceeded to turn to the new target, causing one launcher to aim at the back of the other.

Power Loader still froths at the mouth when someone brings up the Three-Pointer that took itself out because of a faulty wire disconnecting the target camera to missile guidance sync.

"I couldn't fight, I couldn't help, I was just there..." Toru said, thanks to the t-shirt and pants she was wearing, he could tell she was tense, one arm up... liking over her face. "I just stood there amongst the ice, amongst a bunch of frozen villains while one of my classmates got hurt and the others fought."

She also happened to be the only student who didn't get involved in a fight with one of the villains. He couldn't blame her, even if she had the same bravery as her fellow classmates there wasn't much an invisible girl could do next to someone who creates glaciers by pressing his foot against the ground. Still, it was his job to help her feel better about the fact, and that's what he's going to do...

As soon as he figured out how...

"How am I supposed to be a hero if I can't help people?"

Light bulb.

"By helping other people," Ryo said, getting a confused sound from Toru. "If you wanted to take down an underground fight club, who would you send to find it. Endeavor with his Hellflame quirk or Sleepwalker with his Dream Journey quirk?"

"... Who?"

"Sleepwalker, he's a sidekick out of Ingeniums office, graduated from Kotatsu Academy up north."

"... Uhhh... I'd send Endeavor, his quirks more powerful so they'd want someone like him, right?"

"Nope, Endeavor is useless at espionage, his face is too well known as is his quirk... Sleepwalker, on the other hand, has a quirk he can pass off as something else and no fame to be recognized with." Ryo said. The only reason he even knew about Sleepwalker was that he was a therapy hero. He made it his job to know what heroes could be called if a student showed any signs of dangerous trauma. "Dream Journey lets him fall asleep on command and when he does he can then hitch a ride in someone else's dreams. By playing it off as just the ability to pass out at will the club would take him to rig bets and by having a set of people taking shifts napping, he can give the crime rings location in real time."

Ryo popped his neck, he'd been sitting down for a while. "It's not uncommon for that to happen either, with the sheer number of Sidekicks compared to heroes, sometimes a hero needs to sit back while a sidekick does all the hard work and gets the recognition for it. Endeavor might be number two on the rankings but if you think he gets called in for rescue or stealth ops... you're thick in the head." He said as a particularly loud pop came from his neck. His tongue nearly poked out from his lips, that felt way better than it should have. "At the same time, do you think Sleepwalker has much of a chance taking down a crime ring with a good bunch of offensive quirks on his own? No way."

"But... I couldn't do anything at all!"

"Not yet, sure, but no-one expects you to be able to face off an army of villains. But I bet in the week you've been training here you've gotten a few things over your classmates, a good scare, maybe caught them off guard?"

"I guess..."

"And your teachers too, maybe a certain English teacher?"

"... You have no proof."

"Honey, Nezu showed everyone but Present Mic the footage. Power Loader even edited it so Present Mic screamed 'Whomst' instead of just screaming. Pretty sure I have it as my ringtone." Ryo said, chuckling. "So believe me, this time you might not have been able to help, but there will be times when someone needs help, and you'll be exactly what's needed to help them."

"You think so?"

"I know so, and we'll be here to help you figure out how."

* * *

Katsuki Bakugo sat in front of him, silent with his arms crossed and an agitated look on his face. "I understand there was a misunderstanding once everything was done," Ryo said, getting a scoff from the boy. He flipped through the kid's file and let a moment of silence linger, hoping it would prompt him to talk. Quirk: Explosion, Visible-Emitter with an Invisible-Mutation.

The boy's palms were far more complicated than most, His sweat glands the materials in his body to produce nitroglycerin, but that wasn't all there was to it. The ignition source was a separate set of muscles that stored trace amounts of lithium, by flexing those muscles the lithium would eject from his hands and react with the oxygen in his nitroglycerin sweat, causing it to explode.

Granted, it probably didn't need that much, a good shake was enough to detonate nitroglycerin.

"They thought I might be a traitor, that I'd work with villains to hurt Izuku."

The boy was also on his watch list, Class Six Instability naturally put him on it but the boy had come up to him after the first day and asked for it. He wasn't the only one, one of his classmates did the same, but the reasoning was different. Mineta didn't want to fall back into old habits as he tried to suppress part of his instability. Katsuki had issues that were separate from his quirk, issues he's been saddled with by a decade's worth of people praising him regardless of what happened or what he did. The boy had gone to a clinic a year after his quirk developed, his parents wanting to help him reach his dreams. The doctors noted certain signs that along with traits the boy noticed upon looking back on his life recently, scared Katsuki enough to walk up to him and plead for help.

Katsuki Bakugo was a borderline sociopath, and he hated it.

"I... I hurt her before, I know that, I know that better than any of them damn it... but that's not who I am anymore and I'm not working with a bunch of fucking villains!"

He wanted to get better, and Ryo wanted to help him. While most of the damage had already been done there were ways to re-educate the mind without going into full-on brainwashing. His Instability was actually something Ryo was thankful for, it preconditioned his mind to be familiar around explosions but also made him more volatile emotionally. Emotions such as guilt and anxiety can cause the body to break into a cold sweat, which in turn ensured his hands stayed ready to blast any possible threats.

As his emotional responses to things, such as guilt, fear, and so on, began to fade, his quirk brought them back full force, preventing him from losing out on a method that might cause him to sweat.

Ryo found it a bit ironic, if his Instability hadn't had that effect on him it would have been given a lower classification. It'd look better on his record but he would be much worse off mentally.

His budding sociopathy had been staved off by Mania, of all things.

"It sometimes happens, the police need to verify all possibilities and unfortunately part of a hero's job is to be in the right place at the worst possible time," Ryo said as he put Katsuki's papers down on his desk. The blond was still agitated but seemed to relax a bit. "In addition, some new information about some teachers from your old junior high came out, which made things look worse for you."

Katsuki stiffened again and looked at Ryo intently. Information like this tended to get an outburst but at the same time it improved his mood and drive, Ryo balanced the pros and cons of telling him again before continuing.

"You'll hear about it anyway, I was informed early due to being the psychologist on file for U.A. while you and your friend are here," He said as Katsuki straightened up in his seat. "As I mentioned before, the quirk clinic in Musutafu was discovered to have a doctor in it purposely misdiagnosing children as quirkless. In addition, it seems that doctor also was sharing information with a select few teachers in your school, letting them know who to ignore and who to praise."

The boy jumped out of his chair. "That bastard, damn it, damn it damn it damn it!" Katsuki said. He started pacing, letting his anger out as his hands crackled with explosions. Ryo let him vent, the boy would have learned about this when the news got wind of it. Better he learned now and the trust between them grew than learning later and having an outburst outside of U.A.'s walls. "They, they targeted her, they targeted her and used me to hurt her-"

"They also targeted you, Katsuki, you and the people who hung out with you," Ryo said, getting the boy to freeze in his tracks. "They knew if they used certain words when you hurt her and different ones when someone else got hurt, you'd go after her more often."

"As near as we can tell, that doctor had an idea as to what Izuku's quirk might be and wanted her vulnerable. The team in charge of the investigation let U.A. know since you and Izuku are a part of our student body."

Katsuki seemed to falter, and walked back to his chair and sat down, staring forward. "... Why did they target me?"

"I think you know why, Katsuki, but if it helps I can confirm it," Ryo said as he stood up and walked over to the boy, putting a hand on his head. "They wanted you to give up in lieu of a different, more violent path. Two of the boys that stuck around you have gone missing after failing to get into high schools with hero courses."

"... What do I do now?"

Ryo closed his eyes. "Train, listen to your teachers and seek out ways to improve yourself. We'll move our meetings to a weekly basis for now, and I want you to try and remember anything you can about the people you hung out with, the teachers who most praised you, anything you think might be useful for me to forward to the police. We'll make sure they don't hurt anyone else."

Katsuki nodded and relaxed in his seat as Ryo moved back to his. There were many paths to recovery, for some, it was best to speak with groups of like-minded individuals and work together towards a better self. For others, a certain feeling of redemption was needed, a way to give back.

He'd see this boy heal, no matter what.

* * *

"Izukuuuu!"

"Moooom!"

Shoto blinked as he watched Izuku and her mother, Inko, hold onto each other for dear life as tears poured down their faces. Izuku had finally been let out of Recovery Girls small office, where she had been staying until she either recovered or the injury proved permenant. Thankfully it was the former, her cheeks slowly growing back over the woven muscles until she was back to normal, albeit slightly paler where her cheeks and lips had been... disintegrated.

His eyes widened as the hug grew larger when Osore soundlessly threw herself at the two and held on to them. A man with blue skin like hers, her father, and a pale woman with long black hair stood back and watched, the man wiping his tears with a handkerchief. "You poor thing, to be attacked by such substandard villains!"

The adjective didn't seem necessary in his opinion, villains were villains.

Furthermore, the scene before him didn't make any sense. He already knew that her mother, as well as the families of some of the other recommendation students, lived here with themat the dorms. The part that made no sense was that she cared... surely living in the same building with the blond and his family would have revealed by now how dangerous the blond was to her daughter. If no attempt had been made to stop him then surely the woman didn't care.

And yet here she was, sobbing and holding onto Izuku as if the zombie girl might disappear if she lets go. She hadn't tried to call out the boy during the days before Izuku was allowed out of Recovery Girls sight, and she had gone to visit Izuku at least twice a day. In addition he'd seen Katsuki go to the Guidance Counselor, why would someone who seemed so much like his father willingly go to someone for help like that?

Was he misinterpeting something?

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over to see a man with short, dark brown hair, a mustache, and glasses. He recognized the man as Katsuki's father, was he here to tell him to back off, that Izuku belonged to his son, was he-

"Thank you."

-what?

The man gave him a pat on the shoulder and walked over to Izuku, who was still hugging Osore and Inko. Then Mrs. Bakugo walked up to him and put her hands on his shoulders. "Guess we can count on you to keep her safe." She said before standing up and ruffling his hair. She turned and went over to the hug and pulled the two greenettes into a hug of her own. It just didn't make sense, Inko seemed like a good mom, and Katsuki's parents seemed like good people too, they were all friends...

Was he mistaken in his judgement of the two? Izuku seemed to enjoy Katsuki's company and the blond seemed to take measures to keep her safe. She was surrounded by friends, had a happy family, and was even treated kindly even by Katsuki's parents. At the same time he was rough with her, grabbing and shaking her around, yelling at her when she used her quirk, and not to mention how he wouldn't let her out of his sight. He just didn't understand...

He shook his head and walked away, he needed time to think, to try and understand what he was missing.

* * *

Himiko screamed as a scalpel cut into her restrained arm. "Calm down, I know it hurts my dear girl but it's for your own good." The doctor said. Himiko had been burnt badly during the battle, and some areas were simply not healing. As such, she needed skin grafts. "Just think of it this way, it'll bring you closer to her, you'll be a patchwork girl too."

His comments didn't help, but he enjoyed the look of anger the girl gave him. He knew of her obsession with his failure of a project, it was ironic when he thought about it. He'd admit he didn't understand what her plans were, as if anyone could ever understand the girl's motives. Originally, after he'd gotten a few hypotheses on what her quirk would be, he diagnosed her as quirkless with the intent to let her loose to go insane.

The doctor had to hold back from salivating and what could have been created if that damned green haired brat had just lost it and ran from home as Himiko had. Instead, she kept at her desire to be a hero until it drove her off a ledge and into her quirk.

She cost him his position as a quirk analysis doctor and his place in Sensei's plans... Now he just needed to get back to where he belonged.

Himiko's screams grew as he separated a chunk of her arm from her body and replaced it with skin from the girl's abdomen. She would collect his traitorous project... and she'd get exactly what she wants, she'd be together with her little zombie forever. He would allow her that moment of happiness before she stopped thinking forever as a reward for going exactly where he wanted her.

Together they would be his masterpiece, and Sensei would raise him back up again to his seat of glory in the plan to reshape the world in their image.

* * *

Toshinori, Mirio, and Nezu stood in front of the Nomu. It didn't attempt to move, attempt to break from it's chains, attempt to make eye contact. It just sat there, breathing through a drooling, beak-like mouth. "I've never seen anything like it... not even Sir Nighteye has mentioned these things..." Mirio said as he took a step back from it. It disturbed him just looking at it, it looked organic, the visual texture of the skin and eyes looked like normal skin just... pitch black. At the same time the beak like mouth seemed to be made of metal, and the beast didn't seem to have any sort of eyelids. "What are they?"

"We're calling it Nomu, since it's the only name we have for it." Toshinori said as he looked it over. DNA testing revealed it wasn't natural, but some amalgamation of various people with different quirks. The 'primary' strand was an adult male, a man who turned to crime a few years ago before disappearing, his quirk was shock absorption. There was also the DNA of a woman whose quirk made her more flexible than normal, and DNA from at least four other people. The most painful to hear about was the Nomu's regeneration, the strand of DNA that gave it that power came from a child that according to the registry would be seven in about a month.

He'd been missing over two years now.

"It is troubling to think someone has the technology to do something like this, not to mention the resources." Nezu said as he inspected the creature from Mirio's shoulder. "Bioengineering at it's worst, DNA strands meshed together, multiple quirks, metal fused with skin and bone... and no will of it's own to speak of."

Nezu was disgusted with what he was seeing. He knew the sorts of experiments humans did on that which they thought beneath them but capable of things they were not, and yet, looking at this creature, he had no idea what to make of it. The metal beak was not just attached, but instead embedded into the bone of the creature as an extra weapon, one it wasn't smart enough to use or simply didn't have the chance. Nezu wasn't sure which disturbed him more.

Toshinori clenched his fists as he stared at the creature. Only one quirk could have done this, a quirk he thought had disappeared ten years ago. "Given the circumstances, I feel we should assume I failed in my duty five years ago. For that, I'm sorry, Mirio. If I had known perhaps I would have responded to Sir Nighteyes warnings with greater haste."

"You think it was him, that he's still alive?"

Toshinori nodded as Mirio's face paled. "It's the only way this makes sense. This 'Nomu' was created by someone, and the only being I know capable of combining multiple quirks into one body is the nemesis of One for All."

"All... for one..." Mirio said as he stared at the creature, feeling an invisible weight press down on his shoulders.

* * *

"Izuku Midoriya, Age Fifteen. Quirk : Patchwork Zombie, Situationally Activated Visible-Mutation with a Visible-Emitter. Class Eight Instability due to willingness to withstand normally lethal situations without second thought. Other instability signs include willingness to commit self mutilation and general apathy to physical harm done to one's own self."

Nezu's other favorite, Ryo supposed it was only fitting that the principals favorites were on opposite sides of the instability spectrum. Izuku was his last check-in for the day, she'd been released from Recovery Girls care and allowed to go back to the dorms. She'd had dinner, reunited with her mother, and now it was time they had a chat. "Does that all sound correct?"

Izuku looked a bit sheepish, but she nodded. Ryo put Izuku's file down and scratched his chin a bit. "Good to know, when the file first came in there were a few interns who kept sending it back asking for the real information on you. When the registry continued to insist it was accurate it was entered in but with cliffnotes doubting it's authenticity." Ryo said as he looked at the girl. She was different from her classmates and not just in the ever present red stitches and not very healthy looking eyes or skin way.

As dead as she looked, her body still showed signs of life to those who knew how to find them. Her shoulders were squared, her spine straight, her knees were together, and her ankles were crossed. She looked ready to have her picture taken.

"Most of today has been me going over what happened at the USJ, but before we get into that there's a subject I feel needs to be touched on first." He said as he put his hand on his knees. "When talking with three of your friends, Momo, Mineta, and Katsuki about their experiences in the USJ, they all mentioned needing to make sure you weren't left alone again. When I tried to pry further however all I got were references to the clinic from Katsuki alongside Momo and Mineta explaining they'd hidden away when you needed help."

Her shoulders tensed, and her hands on her lap gripped slightly at her skirt. This was going to be a rough subject, but given her instability I needed to keep going. "The Clinic we know the gist of, put from the sounds of it something happened there that you won't speak about with your friends... given your open tendencies to hurt yourself to use your quirk and go through severe traumas without so much as batting an eyelash, it raises a few questions."

She stayed tense, and her head tilted forward. She seemed to be looking at her knees, and Ryo prepared to stand up to try and comfort her in the event she started crying.

"Have you ever failed a friend?"

Ryo relaxed in his seat a bit, that wasn't the worst thing she could ask. "Ectoplasm to name one directly, but there are also a few times either I didn't make it in time or a trail went cold for too long."

"... Back at the clinic, the one in charge of our physical examinations tried to lead me to safety and we ended up cornered by Rakshoni... We tried to fight back but... it didn't work."

Ryo flipped through her file, finding the name of the woman she was found with when she was rescued from the clinic. Kokku, he kept the name in mind as Izuku continued.

"No matter what we did we couldn't stop him, I wasn't strong enough and Kokku got hurt, I tried to take his attention away from her and instead I got torn in half... When I woke up Rakshoni couldn't move and she was... she was dead..." Izuku said. At that point Ryo stood up and walked over to her, kneeling down and putting an arm around her shoulder as tears fell from Izuku's face. "I learned more about her from the registry, targeted telekinesis, only strong enough to lift things she herself could lift. If she went over her limit brain aneurysms would form... which was listed as her cause of death."

"I don't get it... why did she die?" Izuku said as she looked up at Ryo. Her face reminded him of victims he failed to save, tearstained corpses staring up at him lifelessly. "Why did she go over her limit until it killed her... I would have gotten back up... I was okay..."

"Why would someone die for someone like me?"

* * *

 **Omake: Let there be Freedom.**

"So... what do you think of my Howitzer Impact?" Katsuki said as he panted for breath. Gunhead and Retribution looked at the damage he'd caused before the underground hero of the two gave a thumbs up while Gunhead rubbed his hands together.

"Kid, come back in about a week, I'll have something you and your squad might like...

 _ **One Week Later**_

Katsuki came up to the entrance of the beach with Momo and Ochaco flanking him to his right, and Hitoshi and Tetsutetsu flanking him to the right. Osore walked directly behind him carrying a small suitcase. Gunhead came out from behind a vending machine as they came up. "Alright Gunhead, what do you have for us."

"Just a new product for the 'Freedom' series I think you might like, why don't you take a look out on the beach?" Gunhead said. Katsuki turned his head to the beach. Once he saw it, his eyes went wide.

"Is that..."

"I call it the 'Rockets Red Glare' model."

Out of the beach, Toshinori and Mirio were finishing up their first lap across Dagobah Beach when they saw it. A stuffed Izuku in the sand facing the ocean. "Oh that's adorable..." Mirio said, and the plushie Izuku's head turned towards the voice. "Oh, Hi there!"

 _"Hi, I'm Izuku!"_

 ** _"DIIIIIE!"_**

"Oh look a Plushie-Katsuki, co-"

Toshinori's eyes went wide as he noticed the red, glaring eyes on the plushie flying at them, causing a certain national anthem to come to mind. "GET DOWN!"

 _ **BOOM!**_

Gunhead put a hand in front of his face as the plushie exploded, a shockwave ruffling his hair. "So... how many should I make?"


	20. The Battle's not Over

_Welcome to U.A. Arc Part 10: The Battle's not over._

* * *

"Shoto Todoroki, Quirk, Half-Hot Half-Cold. Instability Class Six. Traits include a bipolar personality emerging as a muted, apathetic side that prefers logic and an almost mathematical approach to life while the other side is more manic, responding to mild provocation with extreme emotion and more considered with either feeling more of a good emotion or getting rid of whatever causes a bad emotion. Is that still correct?"

"My father said this wouldn't be necessary, and said my quirks instability class was sealed."

Ryo snorted. "He would try that wouldn't he? We have Nezu as a principal, Sir Nighteye on speed dial, and you're in Eraserhead's class. The moment you applied for U.A. any records on you were pulled and Nezu gleefully unsealed them before sending your fathers agency the details as to how he could have done it, along with a note saying he took a more challenging route through his security so 'it'd be more fun'." He said. The boy gave him something of a shocked looked, but didn't seem angry or unhappy about it. "Now, back to the original question?"

"... It is, I find it easier to just ignore my left and just listen to my right side."

Ryo rubbed his eyes a bit. This was a normal problem with children born of quirk marriages, especially ones where the combination was designed to reduce the weaknesses of either quirk. The quirks would clash, the mental problems from both coming into contact and mixing into a twisted amalgamation of both. While it was admittedly a rare case of the quirk instability classification going down if you considered his father, it also was higher than his mothers, a seven and a five, respectively.

Endeavor was very emotional, whether he showed it or not, and his heightened emotions made him more passionate, more stubborn, gave him a temper with a hair fuse that made him light up more often. The flames he wore on his face, eyes, and suit were purely for his own benefit, stroking his own ego by having his power active constantly.

Rei on the other hand was a Class Five, once her quirk had activated her parents noted with doctors that she had less emotional outbursts and she gave people the cold shoulder more often than not. That said if you managed to get a crack in her cold exterior you'd reveal a temper not unlike a blizzard. Still, she had more emotion than her son was showing.

Now, their son was either felt apathy towards his surroundings, or extreme emotions similar to mania. While he did take measures to lean towards Apathy over Mania, Toru's description of the events at the USJ facility indicated if both 'sides' of him agreed on something, he had both of their tempers.

A burning blizzard is hardly something that can be taken lightly. Flames that could burn you along with water flying around from the ice the fire melts, just for the water to freeze over again the moment the torrents of flame aren't near them.

From the sounds of it, he didnt have any control over his temper aside from bottling up half of it by both literally and figuratively encasing it in a shell using his other half. That meant he had something else wrong with him, something he usually doesn't find in first year hero course students.

Quirk Rejection.

Generally if it rears its head in someone it's either a general studies student or a later year students when something goes wrong during an internship. If it was out of general studies it would usually be fairly difficult for the school as a whole, as it was usually a result of their parents or other authority figures making it out that their quirk was evil. When it was a third year hero student it was more personal and depended on the accident.

For a first year to come in showing blatant signs of it within a few weeks, before the sports festival... he could feel a headache coming on already. "So, you ignore your left side when you feel it heating up?"

"I keep its influence in check."

Ryo took a deep breath before continuing. "Do you ever let it out, let loose and relax?"

Shoto's eyes turn glacial and Ryo held back a groan, it's going to be a difficult case. "I get it now... and you can tell him no, I won't be-"

"Tell who?"

"Ende-"

"Let me just stop you right there then." Ryo said as he stood up and put his hands on the desk, leaning his weight onto it. Shoto looked at him with a mix of anger and surprise. "Your father might be the Number Two hero on the public ranking charts, but let me make it clear, the public ranking are a bunch of uneducated votes based on how often his name shows up on the news concerning a villain bust."

"Everyone in U.A., with the possible exception of All-Might cause he's too damn nice, agree that he's not a hero. He's an attack animal the government scratches behind the ears and calls a good boy so he doesn't try turning to villainy in his idiotic quest to beat All-Might. Ask Midnight for the picture's she's done on the subject, you'll love 'em." Ryo said before sitting back down and relaxing in his chair. "Now, to explain why I asked, before you decided to see a connection that doesn't exist and believe me we'll be getting into that later, rejecting ones quirk can have dangerous effects on ones psyche. Especially quirks that effect your emotions or state of mind the way yours seem to."

Shoto's face looked more shocked than angry, so Ryo continued. "So, do you ever stop and use your left side?"

* * *

Katsuki had an arm up on his desk at the dorm, his head propped up against the back of his hand as he typed with the other hand. That officer might have pissed him off with his insinuations but he brought up something he wanted to look into. They'd been attacked by at least one villain with enough of a history to be considered 'known'. He needed to get more information on that guy.

"Kurogiri, The Black Fog, seriously, who came up with that moniker? Could you get more redundant...?" He said as he straightened up and started paying a bit more attention. "Warp quirk, went underground five years ago for unknown reasons. Rarely participates in combat, instead acting as an active shield and method of insertion and escape."

Katsuki thought for a brief moment how badly things could have gone if Eraserhead hadn't been actively keeping his quirk on Kurogiri and grimaced. Thank god they had someone who could erase quirks... Still, why did he show up after five years underground on a job this big? He needed more information...

He stood up and unplugged his laptop, closing it and holding it under his arm. School was out and Izuku should be back in her room by now... probably. It depended on how long she spent Hound Dog and while Katsuki could admit he has issues, Izuku has far more disturbing issues. As he walked out of his room there was a bit of a chill in the air, getting him to look over at a clock thinking he'd lost track of time. Six o'clock, it shouldn't be this cold... Katsuki clenched his jaw and started flexing his free hand to try and work up a sweat as he walked towards Izuku's room.

Once he got there he saw Shoto standing outside her door, arm extended as if he wanted to knock on her door. He looked confused and ice was forming over his right side. Katsuki relaxed as he realized the cold air was coming from his fellow student. "Hey, you might bringing the temperature back up, it's freezing out here."

Shoto jolted as if he'd been knocked out of a trance, then looked at Katsuki. He then noted the temperature around him and saw the ice on his right arm. "... Apologizes." He said before bringing his left hand over his right bicep. Katsuki shrugged and walked up next to Shoto before reaching to knock on Izuku's door. Shoto stared at the blond, watching his hand and wondering why the boy was bothering to be courteous. Shoto then shook his head, even Endeavor knew how to _act_ like he cared, of course the boy wouldn't just throw the door open. "Worried?"

"Fuck no, Izuku's stronger than any shitty villain. Especially an idiot who thinks taking on All-Might when he's got the back-up of two pro-heroes and twenty heroes-in-training is a solid plan." Katsuki said as he knocked on the door. Shoto admitted that Katsuki wasn't entirely wrong, briefly wondering how badly things would have gone if the villains had arrived earlier and prepared actual ambushes throughout the facility instead of a frontal assault. "I did a bit of research after one of the cops questioning us mentioned the fog asshole is a career villain, figured she'd want to read up on him so we can come up with counter strategies for when they attack again."

"When?"

Katsuki's hand stopped just before his knuckles could touch the door. "Yeah, when. We're a bunch of high school students, U.A. or not, no villain is going to just sit back and let it fester they got curb stomped by us." Katsuki said as he looked at Shoto. "Especially those of our friends who don't live here in the dorms and are out in the open while they're making their way home. Hopefully U.A. is able to pull a few favors to make sure there's heroes escorting them, or send staff members to keep an eye on their routes."

Katsuki's knuckles tapped against the door. Shoto found himself surprised again by Katsuki, he'd brought up a good point and the way the boy knocked was courteous. It didn't looked forced or held back, just a calm, clear knock without any aggression. The two boys heard tapping footsteps, a pause, and then the door opened to reveal Izuku in a part of black knee length shorts and a dark green shirt with the word 'T-Shirt' on it. "Kacchan? Shoto?"

"Hey, not sure why he's here but I found some stuff online about one of the villains we fought, thought we should brainstorm some counters to use against him when they come back."

Shoto watched Izuku's eyes sparkle with excitement before her door was flung open and her hands were holding fistfuls of both Katsuki's shirt and his own. The two of them were pulled into the room and found themselves seated in her room, Katsuki was in an officer chair and he was in what felt like a bean bag. Izuku on the other hand was sitting on her pulled out mortuary bed, swinging her legs and holding a black notebook as welone to try and l as a pen. She clicked the pen and Katsuki opened up his laptop, entering his password, followed by a pin code. "Alright, so, his moniker in the villain registry is The Black Fog, he's the guy who got the villains in, spread us out, and then helped the blue haired fucker escape."

Izuku nodded as her pen started moving over paper. Shoto's eyes lost track of the pens movement a couple times as it moved from one side of the page to the next. "He went to ground about five years ago and generally stayed behind, acting as a barrier to prevent victims from escaping or being rescued. He also acted as a shield for other villains, stopping attacks from hitting them while redirecting attacks to make sure villains don't miss." Katsuki said as Shoto watched Izuku swap out her pen for a pencil. "So... He has a warp quirk that seems to be dependent on his fog, plenty of experience, and has evaded heroes and law enforcement for long periods of time before... thoughts?"

"Trackers, in case he uses his quirk to kidnap us. Mei could probably make something we could integrate into our hero costumes or wear casually. What do you think?"

Shoto blinked at the zombie girl staring at him. "That might work?"

Katsuki rolled his eyes at the awkward son of Endeavor and pulled up a word processor on his laptop. "Alright, trackers to wear outside of costume, as well as another set integrated into the costumes. Did anything else work to keep him under control aside from Mr. Aizawa?"

"I think I overheard Thirteen telling Hanta, Rikido, and some of our other classmates they handled him well, we'll ask what they did tomorrow."

Shoto watched the two interact. Izuku didn't seem worried about Katsuki being in her room, didn't look to him unless she was wondering about what he thought on the most recent idea. She looked like she felt safe, but that didn't make sense. He'd hardly shown himself able to keep her safe from the boy, the only time they fought put everyone around them in danger. He didn't save her at the USJ, she got hurt because she moved before he could.

A traitorous part of his mind reminded him he would have been faster if he hadn't been so cold frost was forming on his body outside of his control, something his fathers fire would have cured.

"-verything alright?"

Shoto jolted out of his thoughts as he looked at Izuku, who had a worried look on her face. "Sorry, I got lost in thought." He said. The worry on her face cleared up and she smiled at him. She turned back to Katsuki and he nodded, she'd gotten worried when he wasn't paying attention... she trusted him to keep her safe, that's why she seemed okay. He wasn't sure how he earned that trust, but he wouldn't let her down. Making a contribution or two to the conversation would help him stay focused. "What about Flashbangs or smokescreens, make it harder for him to see who he's trying to teleport?"

"That might work, but he's capable of warping large groups, he might just teleport his target and the smokescreen." Katsuki said as he typed and Izuku wrote in her notebook. "That said, a delayed trigger could blind whoever he takes the target to, giving 'em time to try to make contact with the school or at least make sure their locator is working."

Shoto watched as Izuku nodded. "Could try having both a smoke bomb and a flashbang, one to try and catch him off guard and the second for wherever he drops his target off at." She said. "Mei could probably make something for it."

Shoto had only met the pink haired girl once, she offered to make him a mask that would cover his left eye, forehead, and cheek. She might be his favorite of Izuku's friends for that offer, and she seemed rather happy with the fact he accepted. "Fighting him would really be a last resort, he can force you to miss by putting a portal in front of you and then make one at your feet, and that's just basic stuff. Depending on his limits he could chop you up, put you inside the ground and unable to move, warp quirk restricting cuffs or bindings onto your body..."

"Not to mention just making a wall won't work, the USJ was an indoor facility and they walked right in. We can assume his fog creates the entry point and he decides where the exit will be within a certain range." Izuku said as she continued to write. "It's also probably a corridor type, rather than phase shift, wormhole, or time dilating type."

"What makes you say that?" Shoto said, trying to hide the fact he had no idea what she just said.

"It means they didn't have to walk from point a to point b inside of his quirk." Katsuki said. "Corridor type warp quirks function like a hallway, you walk into the quirk and then walk out of it. "

Izuku nodded and turned to Shoto. "Right, meanwhile Wormhole types create a portal like from a video game, the moment you step through it you're at the other location. Phase Shift types allow people to seemingly disappear and walk to wherever they want. They're like intangibility quirks but there are a few differences, such as the ability to share the effect with others and sometimes things that aren't in our world being inside the phase shifted reality."

"... What?"

"Short version, Phase Shifting's downside is that something else got there first, and it's fucking hungry."

Izuku gave a nervous laugh. "Yeah... anyway time dilating type warping is the worst and it's only appeared once, it allows someone to warp to a different time, go somewhere, and then return to their normal time. For example if someone were to go back in time before a house was built, walk over to where the house is, and then warp back to when the house was completed as a way of getting into a house."

"Given the fact none of us are stuck in the pre-quirk era, we can assume he can't do that."

"... Has anyone ever had that kind of power?"

"No, warp quirks are rare enough as it is. There's actually a number of quirk categories that don't have any known examples in history, however since warp quirks and time effecting quirks do exist, the registry has a section to put it under in the event the two bloodlines mix and a cross between those powers is created."

"Also Pre-quirk people were fucking insane about quirks... not so great with the science though, save for a few of 'em. As pre-quirk era stuff is found with abilities that resemble quirks they create a category for when quirks like them show up to make registry easier."

… Pre-Quirk era quirks, Shoto was finding himself confused again. What kind of people existed before quirks and how much had they managed that they could spend time coming up with powers they'd never have? "Were we so advanced before quirks that they planned out what life would have been like with them?"

"Actually, we're more advanced than we were without quirks. Though it's been theorized if quirks didn't appear we'd be out in space by now." Izuku said. She put the back of her pen against her lips. "Unfortunately, when quirks first appeared it was completely unprecedented, and people got into the idea of emulating the heroes and villains that had been designed on paper. Since comic books often had a loop holes that writers exploited rather than explain though, rather than civilization still evolving despite people being killed left and right, humanity lost a lot of progress."

"Not to mention no-one had any clue how to deal with Quirk instability." Katsuki said, adding to the conversation. "When a good portion of the worlds governments suddenly have their already squabbling parties splintering into new groups, suddenly retiring to put on spandex and attack people, or going from political control to 'I have a death ray fear me' control... yeah, it didn't go well for anyone."

"Then you have religious panic, children of certain high profile members of a church growing horns while the woman they excommunicated gives birth to a child with white feathered wings..." Izuku said, twirling her pen in the air

"Didn't they find proof a church started worshiping a child after he burst into flame while being baptized?"

"I think I saw a documentary that mentioned that... it was in America, Kansas right?"

"Think so."

Shoto suddenly realized he was very much out of his element. His father taught him how to fight, how to take down criminals, how to investigate clues that could lead him to a villain... history was left to his school, and they never mentioned this stuff. They never went into pre-quirk era history...

"... So, when are we going to share what we've come up with?"

"Right after we run it all past Mr. Aizawa, he'll be able to double check our ideas with real life experiences."

… He could use that fact he was out of his element though. Katsuki had said Izuku was very interested in quirks, and this information seemed important, he could ask her to tutor him in the subject in order to spend more time with her. He could help her feel safe until she was ready to cut herself away from the explosive blond and be free of him. He could use this.

* * *

Minoru sighed as he walked through the dorms in the morning. He couldn't sleep. True, the events of the USJ were behind them but there was still the occasional bad night.

It had been one of those nights.

"At least it was different this time." He said as he walked the dorm kitchen and found the pantry. He'd heard rumors about what people thought he liked as a snack, usually it involved something sticky like syrup or glazed donuts, but that wasn't really his comfort food if he was honest. He preferred something a bit more on the healthy side in the morning. He grabbed a container of oatmeal and a bag of chia seeds, tossing them over to the counter before grabbing two kettles and taking them to the sink. He rinsed them both with hot water before filling them both and adding tea leaves to the first kettle.

He put a couple tablespoons of chia seeds, followed by dry oatmeal, into a bowl and poured hot water into it with them. As the oatmeal was soaking up the hot water he got himself a tea cup, put some filter paper over it, and poured the tea into a cup for himself. "Alright... now for a protein." He said as he took the filter paper and dumped the tea leaves it had caught back into the kettle. He went over to the fridge and found a package of hard boiled eggs. "Perfect."

He took a pair of the eggs and began to deshell them when he heard footsteps. Minoru looked up to see Momo walking into the kitchen and while she didn't have bags under her eyes she looked like she was in a haze. "Bad night?"

Her eyes widened and she jolted before seeing Minoru. She relaxed and nodded. "Yes... you too?"

"Yeah, at least it wasn't the clinic this time." He said as he finished deshelling one egg and moved to the next one. "I made tea and hot water."

Momo nodded as she walked over to the tea kettle and poured herself a cup. "Do you know if we have any bacon?"

"Thought I saw some, thick cut on the lowest shelf in the fridge." Minoru said. Momo walked over to the fridge and opened it, grabbing the bacon as well as a cup of yogurt for herself. "Still get nightmares about the clinic then?"

"Who doesn't?" He said as he finished deshelling the second egg and walked over to his oatmeal. He stirred the oatmeal a bit to make sure it wasn't too watery and then took it, his tea, and his eggs to the table. "This time though, it was the USJ."

Momo took out a cast iron skillet, made sure it was cold, and put it onto the stove with six strips of bacon. "... I couldn't move." She said as she turned on one of the stove burner. She took out a pair of tongs and watched the bacon. "In the nightmare, instead of responding immediately I froze up, I couldn't move, they hurt the others... they took some and killed others..."

Minoru scooped some oatmeal and chia seeds into his mouth as Momo spoke. "Katsuki and Izuku were amongst the ones taken, they put a pipe down my throat and force fed me while using someone with a quirk like Hitoshi's to make me create weapons for them."

"I'm going to assume I died, I mean sticky hairballs isn't exactly the quirk of champions." Minoru said after swallowing the food in his mouth. Her nightmare was honestly not too far from his, though they didn't bother to keep him around. They just scalped him so his hair couldn't grow anymore and fed him to the monster. "It was about the same for me, but I died rather than being used as a weapons factory... I think you drew the short stick on nightmares this time so I guess we're having burgers for dinner unless you've got a taste for something else."

Momo gave a snort as she flipped the bacon. Nightmares were getting to be common amongst the group, they all had their own teenaged fears and the clinic wasn't exactly helpful. They needed a way to cope and what better way than comfort food? Only problem was they all had nightmares, eight kids with various, quirk related tastes were hard to please with one kitchen. Then Katsuki got competitive about it and the eight of them made it into a game, the kid with the worst nightmare picks dinner.

It helped them confide in each other about the dreams, helped them recover, and made it not entirely a bad thing.

"In mine you were all either captured or killed, and I had to watch the aftermath... has anyone else realized that Izuku would be a terrifying villain?" Hitoshi said as he walked into the kitchen with Osore, who was blearily rubbing her eyes.

"Just all of our teachers, the people involved in all the quirk instability and monitoring paperwork, our entire class after she started bleeding all over clumps of my hair during our first bit of hero training, and a bunch of villains." Minoru said. "... Are we usually this friendly?"

"You've been getting better."

"Huh..."

Roy and Tsubame came in next as Momo placed the finished strips of bacon on a paper towel and wrapped them. She took the bacon and yogurt to the table while Hitoshi grabbed a few eggs and some kale. He took the pan she had used and started making himself an omelet. "... We didn't stand back waiting for help this time." Momo said. "We got up and fought back."

Hitoshi nodded. "We had our phones out and were getting ready to contact emergency services while a few of the more physically inclined members of the class tried to bust us out." He said. Minoru looked over at him as Roy, Tsubame, and Osore nodded. "Our teacher put our classroom into lockdown, we weren't able to go help.

Osore took a butter knife and, holding it in a reverse grip, swung it around. "Yeah, Togaru was pissed... he really wanted to take down a few of the villains."

It was fairly quiet as the others made their breakfast, and Minoru picked at his oatmeal. "... So, burgers with dark chocolate milkshakes and French fries, I could use some starch."

"Sounds good to me." Hitoshi said while Osore bit into a breakfast burrito with cheese, lettuce, eggs, and mushrooms. Roy and Tsubame nodded alongside him, Roy with a bowl of granola and Tsubame with an oversized slice of quiche. "... Sorry we weren't there."

"... I'd like to so it's not a problem at least you were safe. But you would have made things a _lot_ easier. 'Hey Mr. Villain?' 'What!?' 'Stop' 'Okay.'" Minoru said, getting an amused snort from Hitoshi.

"As if Togaru wasn't already pissed, me insta-ending the fight might have ended in him going berserk."

* * *

Classes started up again after Ryo and Chiyo gave them clean bills of health. Kyoka immediately noticed a difference in the mood of her class when she walked up to the door, and frowned once she saw what lied beyond it. Everyone was quiet, Denki wasn't making conversation with Eijiro or Hanta, Mina wasn't teasing Yuga, and Rikido wasn't having his usual 'Sweet vs Savory' argument with Fumikage…

She took out her phone and plugged one of her jacks into it. Her father was a composer, he studied a lot of music including a few songs from the pre-quirk era and there was one song that a current day band could cover. A way of bringing back some of what had been lost in the initial chaos caused by quirks. She let the music play as she sat down, and after a bit began to tap her fingers to the beat of the music. It wasn't much, just a light tapping to match the drums of the song.

After a bit, she heard Denki tapping his fingers, while she was tapping to the drums he seemed to be trying to match another instrument. After a few dozen taps she heard someone humming to the tapped out tune, it was Fumikage of all people. "... the pain into power..." She heard him butter, he actually knew the song.

For a moment the things started to feel normal and she heard Katsuki lean in his chair, pressing an arm onto Izuku's desk. "So, Izuku, did you hear about the latest pro debut?"

"Yeah, Breakdown finally got out of the sidekick stage." Izuku said, sounding a bit excited as she started to go into the different details about the now pro-hero. With that the ice in the room seemed to break. Ochaco started talking with Tenya, Mina and Yuga started tossing barbs at each other, Rikido and Koji started talking about animal friendly sweets since Fumikage was still half involved with the music she was tapping out with Denki.

A few minutes of it and she unplugged her jack from her phone as Shota Aizawa sat up in his sleeping bag from behind the desk. Once he stood at his full height he unzipped the sleeping bag he was in and let it fall to the ground, revealing he was still in his hero costume. "Alright, everyone quiet down, it's time to start our day." He said as he looked around, his eyes stopping on Kyoka for a moment as if to say thanks. "Now, since you've all had some time to recover from the trauma of the attack it's time you stopped relaxing."

The class stiffened in their seats as his words. "While the villains were soundly pushed back in their attempt, the fact that there was even an attack in the first place says a lot about how cocky villains are getting. To deter further attacks Principal Nezu wants the Sports Festival to be even more of a spectacle than it usually is."

Shota looked over the class as he said this, his students were either excited, determined, or a mix of both. He held back from cracking a smile at that. "Since you all proved yourselves against live villains and handled yourselves well, Principal Nezu has decided the best way to do that is to put you all through the ringer early. To prevent showing any favoritism Class 1-B will be joining us for these sessions... get your gear, from here to the Sports Festival you're all going to become very well acquainted with Gym Gamma." Shota explained as the door to their class swung open. "That means you'll be training under Midnight, Cementoss, Ectoplasm, Vlad King, All-Might, Snipe, and myself."

Midnight walked into the room, smirked at the class and put a hand on her hip. "Grab your things and line up, we're going to have some fun!" She said before holding up a gym uniform with her free hand. "Now, grab your gym clothes and get changed, you won't have your costumes in the festival so you can't use them here!"

There was a blur of motion as the class moved towards the changing rooms, Class 1-B catching up with them in the halls. Midnight turned to Shota as he rolled his shoulders and loosened his capture weapon. "The one time you decide not to expel anyone, and they're already being pushed into the hero equivalent of honors class."

"Don't remind me." Shota said with a groan before leaning his head back and instilling two eyedrops into his eyes. Nezu wasn't one to push for something like this, which meant he knew something that Shota didn't and if there was one thing Shota hated it was not having a view on the bigger picture. A monster attacks, prior trauma kept a few students from freezing up so they could galvanize their fellow students, and now they were to start advanced training in preparation for the Sports Festival. "Normally this training is held back until they've gotten real world experience _and_ a chance to push their limits. That way they have a chance to gauge their weaknesses and try to work around them..."

"Eraser... they do have real world experience, what happened at the USJ was hardly a controlled experiment to test their nerves, it was real." Midnight explained as she stepped towards the door. "And considering what some of them did, I think they pushed themselves to the limit already, now we need to show them how to break or go around those limitations."

Shota scoffed as he blinked a few times, then transitioned from his teaching persona to his hero one. "Guess you're right... let's get this over with." Eraserhead said as he walked out of the room. Vlad King was already standing in the hallway waiting, Eraserhead gave him a look. "I assume your students won't try pressing certain buttons?"

Vlad King frowned, but nodded. "After being... reminded that a few of his classmates were in the same situation, I made sure he wouldn't forget. It shouldn't become an issue again."

* * *

"Hello, I am Pony Tsunotori. It's nice to beat the shit out of you!"

"Neito!"

* * *

Vlad King felt a bit of sweat run down his neck. "That said... he has a mimicry quirk." He told the teacher next to him. "Along with it he has the most common instability that comes with mimicry type quirks. That, a bit of an inferiority complex, and finally his classroom having a number of extra students... as if they were just tossed in regardless of how big the class usually is..."

"I don't fault him entirely, rude as it sounds until she can keep a level head about the subject we'll have to force her to confront the idea of being taunted with that incident."

"... So, who are you planning on expelling first?" Vlad King asked after a few minutes of silence. "Personally I'm fairly happy with my students, incident aside they've all got the drive and potential."

"None of them are slated for expulsion." Eraserhead said as he pulled a nutrition pouch and popped it open. As he sucked the liquid from pouch Vlad King nodded before realizing Eraserheads answer

"Wait, none of them!?"

"Denki and Mina might both have low test scores, but they're still intelligent in their own ways. Denki manages top scores in any language arts tests he's given, outdoing even Shoto and Momo at one point. Mina on the other hand might not have a lot of book smarts but when it comes to civilian relations and chemistry she's a natural." Eraserhead explained. "They both have potential and the incident at the USJ has both of them realizing they need to be better. As for the ones I was warned about, both are showing remarkable progress in their attempts to better themselves."

"And Endeavors kid?"

"Nezu and I have worked a few plans out, depending on how makes it to the final part of the festival."

Vlad King's eyes took a sharp look. "Anything I should make my students aware of?"

Shota shook his head. "It's Nezu we're talking about, what do you think?"

"Fair enough."

The two walked into Gamma Gym and watched as Cementoss created a concrete landscape filled with cliffs, canyons, and valleys. As a finishing touch, a small village formed along with a canal. "Alright, we've got forty-four students about to come in here in gym clothes ready to start using their quirks in ways that'll scare thugs off the streets just watching them at work, and we've got a week to get them ready." Eraserhead said as he looked at the group around him. "To that end, we're going to have to split them up between us so they can come up with ideas and put them into practice. Once they've gotten started we'll work together to examine everything and see what we can improve."

"I'll take Hanta Sero, Mineta Minoru, Juzo Honenuki, Ibara Shiozaki, Mina Ashido, and Kojiro Bondo, their quirks could work well for capturing villains. I can give them advise, and teach them how to handle being overwhelmed." Ectoplasm stated, he got a nod from Eraserhead and Vlad King and moved to the mock village.

"Give me Tetsutetsu Tetsutesu, Roy Kestrel, Eijiro Kirishima, Mashirao Ojiro, Rikido Sato, and Jurota Shishida. Those boys know how to work up a sweat, but I can teach them to better control their breathing." Midnight said as she stepped up from behind Vlad King and Eraserhead. Once they nodded to her she moved towards the canyon formation. "Enjoy the show boys..."

 **"That aside, I'll take Katsuki Bakugo, Izuku Midoriya, Sen Kaibara, Togaru Kamakiri, Itsuka Kendo, Hiryu Rin, and Nirengeki Shoda. Their quirks give them powerful advantages in close quarters combat, but against my power they'll need more than that."** All-Might said, jumping up into the cliffs as he got a thumbs up from Vlad King.

"Momo Yaoyarozu, Yuga Aoyama, Koji Koda, Kyoka Jiro, Setsuna Tokage, Mezo Shoji, Toru Hakagure, and Fumikage Tokoyami. A few of them have ranged attacks and others need time to think, we'll see how they handle a better shot that doesn't give them any time for a plan." Snipe said as he headed towards a small valley. Eraserhead mentally went over which students were left to work with. From his class there was still Denki Kaminari, Ochaco Uraraka, Tenya Iida, Tsuyu Asui, and Shoto Todoroki. From Vlad Kings class there was still Tsubame Bantan, Hitoshi Shinso, Osore Dendo, Kinoko Komori, Yosetsu Awase, Shihai Kuroiro, Yui Kodai, Pony Tsunotori, Kosei Tsuburaba, Neito Monoma, Manga Fukidashi, and Reiko Yanagi.

That was seventeen students to split up between each other... "I'll take Hitoshi Shinso, Osore Dendo, Ochaco Uraraka, Denki Kaminari, Yosetsu Awase, Shihai Kuroiro, Yui Kodai, and Neito Monoma." Eraserhead said. "They're the most likely to end up in situations where their quirk can't help, so they'll need to learn how to fight without their quirks helping them."

"That leaves me with Tenya Iida, Tsuyu Asui, Shoto Todoroki, Tsubame Bantan, Pony Tsunotori, Kosei Tsuburaba, Manga Fukidashi, Reiko Yanagi, and Kinoko Komori." Vlad King said. "They've got pretty straight forward quirks for the most part, forcing them to think outside the box should give them an edge."

The two of them waited a few minutes before the sound of footsteps emanated from behind them. Turning around the two heroes saw their students, all wearing U.A.'s gym uniform. By now certain cliques amongst the students, Eraserhead fought back a grin at the fact they'd be tearing them apart to go to separate teachers. "Welcome to Gym Gamma, otherwise known as Training Kitchen Land, just as the USJ was Thirteens brainchild, this gym was designed by Cementoss as a place he could customize into whatever you all need to get stronger," Eraserhead explained. "And we're going to take full advantage, each of you will be split up amongst us pros in ways that'll force you to adapt around possible weaknesses while still emphasizing your strengths. All of you will be working together so listen to your fellow classmates and be ready to take and dish out criticism. Now, when I call out your name step forward. Hanta Sero."

Denki watched as his classmates were assigned to different teachers and shivered as the room echoed with the sounds of combat. After a few moments he saw Izuku sail through the air missus her feet. He gulped his teacher looked at him.

"Denki Kaminari."

"... I'm visiting the nurses office after this, aren't I?"

Eraserhead smirked at the blond. "You won't be alone, if I have my way about it each and every one of you is going to have a trip to Recovery Girl. Better you break your legs here because your footing was off than out where people are depending on you."

Denki gulped a second time as he stepped forward to join Ochaco and two students from class 1-B. He recognized them after a moment, having seen them with Izuku, Katsuki, Momo, Tenya, and Ochaco. "H-Hey, Denki Kaminari, nice to meet you?"

"Hitoshi Shinso, and this is Osore Dendo." Hitoshi said as Osore nodded next to him. "I think Izuku's mentioned you... electricity quirk, right?"

"Yeah, I can generate electricity, which works great in close range... but to make it travel forces me to go over my limit and then I kind of... go full stupid."

"Full stupid?"

"I can't talk properly but I can give a thumbs up... after years of trying really hard..."

Osore started gesturing to herself before pointing at her hands. "She wants to know if you've tried non-verbal communication, like sign language or charades." Hitoshi said after a moment, earning a nod from Osore. "If you can lift your arms and give a thumbs up, maybe other simple movements would be easier than articulating your mouth and vocal cords."

Denki opened his mouth, and then closed it and started thinking. "... Maybe?"

"If you're all done socializing..." Eraserhead said as he brought a hand up to his scarf. "Now, I imagine the others are all having a damn good time wrecking your classmates, forcing them to think outside the box and go beyond what they might consider safe to land a decent blow. Each of you have quirks that can help them out but those quirks also happen to be your greatest weaknesses, whether it's a pain in the ass to activate, dangerous to use, or you're useless in situations where you can't use it."

"So, you're all going up against me, either take me down for find a way to escape to your friends before they run out of ideas and really start getting pummeled."

Eraserheads capture weapon exploded into action as his eyes glowed red and hair began to float. Denki remembered his teacher mentioning an alloy in his weapon and activated his quirk before reaching for it. The moment his hand touched the cloth his electricity just... turned off. For a moment he wondered why he'd have electricity coursing through his hands when he remembered his teachers quirk. "Oh cra-!"

The weapon wrapped around his hand and he found himself looking at everyone from above. Hitoshi was standing behind while Ochaco was rushing forward while Shihai stood by Yui, who seemed to be looking for something. Osore wrapped up by Eraserheads weapon, which Eraserhead was using to fling the smaller girl into Ochaco's path. Before he could scout any further another tug sent him straight towards the ground, slamming him headfirst into something before he collided with the ground. His ears were ringing and his throat hurt from how forcefully the wind had been knocked out of him. The cloth slipped from him and he felt a hand grab his arm and pull him up. "Hey, are you alright!?"

He looked up towards the blurry image of a boy with spiky black hair and a headband that held it out of his face. As it cleared up he realized it was one of the Class 1-B students, Yosetsu Awase. "Y-ye, no, no that hurt." Denki said, shaking his head as he stood up with Yosetsu's help. "I thought maybe I could electrocute his weapon, he mentioned it having some kind of alloy in it... he cancelled it out before I could even try."

"Then maybe it'll work, he can only cancel one quirk at a time..."

Another hand grabbed him, Denki followed it to see Neito Monoma, who took a deep breath as he copied Denki's quirk. He felt a mental fog for a moment before his body adapted, electrical signals increasing in strength to make up for the insulated channels. "... So we just need to try from multiple angles."

Before Denki could say anything he saw a long thin like of something stick onto a cliff, followed by Hanta... and a supersized copy of Ectoplasms head trying to eat him. "... What's the plan?"

"We're going to create a distraction to give Yui and Yosetsu a chance to try out a move they've been working on. I'm going to stick to your shadow using Shihai's quirk and we'll attack him with your quirk together, while he keeps us from filling his scarf with electricity-"

"They'll follow up with something to take him down, or at least buy us some time." Denki finished, getting a nod Neito. "Alright, let's do this!"

Neito smirked and slipped into Denki's shadow as the blond rushed back into the fight, narrowly dodging Ochaco as she was sent flying straight at him. Denki watched as Hitoshi and Osore tried a pincer attack only for Eraserhead to jump out of the way and use his capture weapon to force Osore into the air with him. Hitoshi looked up just for Eraserhead to plant both feet on his face and kick down, dropping Hitoshi onto his back before landing above him and driving Osore into his stomach. "That's not good enough, your friends need your help and you can't even land a hit?"

"Try this on for size!" Denki said as he reached for his teachers capture weapon again. Just like before there was a sudden absence of his quirk, and then he felt someone right behind him as Neito came out of his shadow. The moment he felt his quirk come back he tried to pump electricity into the white cloth around his arm... but nothing happened aside from his hand crackling with electricity. "Huh?"

"Did you really think I'd use a conducti-" Eraserhead was cut off as a number of boulders landed between Denki and Eraserhead, pinning his capture weapon to the ground.

"Massive Kwik-Construct: Stone Prison!"

Both Denki and Eraserhead watched as Yui threw what looked like a collection of pebbles stuck together and stuck her fingers together as she darted behind a rock. The pebbles then grew to show they were all welded together by Yosetsu's quirk, creating a dome of rocks. Shihai then pulled himself out of Hitoshi's shadow and grabbed him and Osore before running for cover while Eraserhead tried to jump out of the way. Denki in turn grabbed onto Eraserheads weapon with both hands along with Neito, trying to keep him from just pulling it from under the boulder. "Did you copy that too?" Denki called out as he pulled on the weapon.

"When he erased Copy he erased all the quirks I had stored up!"

"I got it!" Yosetsu said as he ran to the two boys. Eraserhead smirked before giving his weapon a sharp tug. The weapon slipped under the boulder and both Denki and Neito found themselves falling forward, colliding with Yosetsu and losing their grip as their heads bounced off of each other. Another tug pulled the weapon free just in time for him to spin around and catch Ochaco's left side with a roundhouse.

 _'I wonder if the others are finding this as therapeutic as I am._ _'_

* * *

 ** _'Sorry about this young lady, but it needs to be_ done.'** All-Might thought to himself as he caught Itsuki's fist and threw her at Hiryu, both intercepting the scales he launched and slamming the both of them into the wall behind him. He felt heat on his back and moved out of the way of an explosion that engulfed where he'd been standing. A quick look around revealed where Katsuki had blasted him from and he decided to take a note from his old mentors book. He jumped to one of the gym walls, then jumped again aiming himself at Katsuki. The boy spun at the sound of concrete shattering just in time for All-Mights palm to flatten his nose, then he was flying as All-Might grabbed his head and slammed him into the ground. **"You're all strong, no doubt about that... but strength alone won't save lives!"**

A pair of pale legs tried to wrap around his waist and he felt a tug. He recognized the shoes as Izuku's, she was trying to piledrive him... that's cute. **"You'll need more than just overwhelming power to face true villains!"** He said as he grabbed her legs and pulled her off of him. She let out a yelp as he brought her up asTogaru ran towards him with blades forming from his arms. **"Show me something more than your quirks, use your heads!"**

He then swung Izuku down at Togaru, slamming him into the ground and causing one of his blades to pierce through Izuku's stomach. He yanked her off of the boy's bladed arm and then threw her at a now standing Sen, flattening him back onto the ground. **"Or you'll never make it in time to help your friends!"**

Izuku picked herself up as her stomach stitched itself closed, coughing up a bit of blood as she wiped her lips. "Ow... are you alright?"

"Five more minutes..."

She pouted and her shoulders slumped a bit. "Guess not... come on." She said as she pulled one of his arms over her shoulders. Izuku ran him over to a small collection of broken chunks of concrete for cover. Once she got there she put himup against the broken concrete before peering out from behind it, watching All-Might... dismantle her team through sheer power. They needed a plan, a way to catch him off guard long enough to get a real hit in. She just didn't know what that would take. "Come on..."

"Is Sen alright?"

She looked over to see a chubbier boy with light blue hair cut short kneeling between her and Sen, Nirengeki Shoda if she remembered right. "I don't know, he seemed out of it..." She said as a thought came to mind. "Say, how does your quirk work again?"

Nirengeki held up a hand. "When I hit things, I leave a high amount of kinetic energy where the blow lands, I'm able to activate that energy to basically repeat whatever I did to it but with much more force... why?"

Izuku's eyes twinkled as a plan started to form. "Okay, I have an idea, but we need Itsuka, did you see where she landed?"

"She got thrown against one of the walls, I think."

Izuku nodded and rushed to try and find Itsuka, All-Might noticed and rushed over to her, burying a fist into her gut. Air, spit, and stomach acid shot from her mouth as she folded around his arm. **"And where are you going?"**

"A.P. Shot: Rapid Fire!"

All-Might spun around and threw Izuku away as he dodged the shots and went after Katsuki again, driving the boy into the ground as Itsuka caught Izuku. "Keep him busy!"

"How the hell did we draw a short enough straw to have to face All-Might?!" Hiryu said as he crossed his arms in front of his face and covered them in scales, only for All-Might to thrust an elbow in his direction. The resulting shockwave slammed into Hiryu's arms and blasted the scales off of him.

* * *

"Oh shit Oh shit Oh shit Oh shit!" Hanta chanted as he used his tape to try and avoid the massive Ectoplasm head chasing him like a supersized pac-man.

* * *

"Seriously, how are we supposed to compete?!" Hiryu growled as he covered his hand in scales and tried to launch them at All-Might.

* * *

Shoto's eyes went wide as the glacier he formed was destroyed by his teacher... who was holding a dazed Pony by the collar of her uniform and using her head and horns as an improvised punching weapon. "That all you got, kid?" He said before throwing Pony at him like a javelin.

* * *

"This isn't even slightly fair!"

* * *

Midnight bit her lower lip as her whip spun around Mashirao's tail. "Such a big boy... why don't you go compare sizes with him honey?" She said before twisting and swinging Mashirao into Rikido, causing the boy to choke on the sugar he'd been trying to pour into his mouth.

* * *

"How are we supposed to handle something like this!?"

* * *

"Yuga, are you alright?" Momo asked as she formed a metal barrier to cover herself and Yuga from the onslaught of bullets flying at them.

"He shot through my belt." Yuga said as he gripped his belt, energy leaking out of the cracked belt like liquid. "I might be able to take another shot at hi-"

Following that, a rubber bullet ricocheted off his head and hit Momo in the neck, causing her to start coughing.

* * *

Itsuka put Izuku down behind the rubble with Nirengeki "Jeez, and the villains you fought thought they had a chance against this, were they stupid?"

Izuku felt her internal organs being pieced back together as she pushed herself onto her own two feet. "Maybe... that or just crazy, a few of them kept calling themselves my worst nightmare as if they didn't look like bacon seeds."

"Bac-"

Nirengeki held up a hand. "You know them as 'pigs'." He said, getting a nod from Izuku. Itsuka looked between the two of them for a moment before pinching the bridge of her nose. "Anyway, Izuku said she had a plan... though I don't think she intended to have herself thrown at you..."

Izuku nodded and pointed at the rubble around them. "If we can throw this at him after Nirengeki's punched them, his quirk could force them to change direction midair. If we time it right we can catch him mid-jump and maybe stun him long enough to land a good hit on him."

 **"An interesting plan, and then what will you do?"**

Izuku froze and slowly tilted her head upward to see All-Might squatting on top of the concrete they were using for cover, looking down at them with a grin on his face. **"... well, anything?"**

"Double Jumbo Fist!"

* * *

Kurogiri let his mind wander a bit as he cleaned a glass cup. There wasn't a reason for it really, he rarely got customers at the bar nowadays. He'd only really get two or three customers a week, nowhere near enough to keep the bar open if it depended on it's customers. The bar was little more than a front that some people took advantage of to get good drinks so long as they had useful tidbits of information. Sometimes they didn't intentionally give him the information, sometimes they did, but he still got what he needed from it.

The glass hadn't been used, but Tomura had picked up habits over time and Kurogiri knew them well. Tomura would come downstairs soon for something to drink, he'd finish cleaning a cup, make the drink, and hand it over for the boy to sip or gulp down. He was getting better at remembering to sip instead of gulp, but he still had his moments. His mind wandered to the USJ for a moment, replaying the events in his mind. It had been a humbling defeat, one that reminded him that five years of staying quiet tended to make one lose their touch.

Now that wasn't to say Sensei had been wrong, far from it, Sensei had confided in him that Tomura was supposed to lose. Surviving a defeat taught someone much more than winning could ever hope to, but even Sensei hadn't realized just how immense a defeat it would be. The thugs they'd brought with them were nothing compared to mere children, a fact that both amused and enraged Kurogiri. On one hand the thugs were a bunch of posturing idiots so seeing them beaten like pedophiles in prison was amusing after they tried to muscle around his bar, on the other it infuriated him that such weaklings tried to act big around someone like him, someone with his connections.

He put the glass down to get a drying cloth, wiping his hands before picking the glass up again and wiping it dry. Sensei had given him the bar as a reward for staying with him through everything, something to both hide away in and still do something he enjoyed. His mental wandering stopped as Tomura trudged into the room and over to a stool before sitting on it and leaning against the counter. Kurogiri started mixing a Rose Berry Bliss, putting it together in a large cup rather than a wine glass. Tomura enjoyed acidic drinks, such as sodas and wines, but it was risky to give him the correct glasses for such drinks.

The drink, once finished, slid across the bar to the boy, and Kurogiri's mind wandered yet again. This time on the subject of Tomura himself. When Kurogiri worked for Sensei before All-Might nearly ended the mans life, everything was so perfectly calculated he never had to worry about the mans next move. Tomura on the other hand was unpredictable both in his strategies, if you could call them that, and his mood, forcing Kurogiri to keep his eyes more on Tomura in a fight than on their enemies for fear of the boy deciding to end him instead.

Kurogiri picked up another glass and started to clean it, keeping himself busy so he wouldn't go too far down that rabbit hole. As he finished saying that the Doctor walked into the room as well. "Ah, Kurogiri my old friend, still a master behind the bar I see." The old man said as he sat down. "I don't suppose you still know how to make a White Russian?"

He nodded, and began to mix the drink for the doctor, hoping the act of putting a glass to his lips would keep him quiet. If there was anything Kurogiri was unsure of, it was the return of the old doctor, the return of his experiments.

"One White Russian."

"Thank you, my friend."

How could he not be worried about the old mans return, when Sensei had sent the man away for being too twisted for his ambitions.

* * *

 _ **Omake: What's in a (Registered) name?**_

Endeavor marched into the office of his lawyer with a four year old Shoto in tow. The man's office was covered wall to wall in a fiery red wall paper, with twin lion statues on either side of his desk. Sitting at said desk was the man who'd admittedly saved him from a number of PR disasters, a man by the name of Furadari. Pale skin, bright orange hair gelled up into a spiked mane with matching sideburns and beard, clothed in a black suit with red trim and a white fur lining around the neck, accented with a red tie and fingerless black gloves.

"Endeavor, I see you've brought yet another child with you... I assume his quirk has come forth."

"It has, at long last the perfect quirk has been created. We're here to register it." He said as Shoto walked up to one of the lions, patting the statue on the nose. Endeavor sat in front of the mans desk and Furadari took out a file from one of the many drawers in the desk, then turned on his computer. "I see you have everything prepared."

"This is your fourth child, Endeavor, I wouldn't be much of a lawyer if I couldn't at least follow patterns." Furadari said as he opened a window on the computer. "So, what will we be naming the quirk?"

"Antarctic Inferno." Endeavor said, pride swelling in his chest, his son's quirk would be fierce, intimidating, and stand uniq-

"That's taken."

Endeavor's flames nearly went out from shock. "... What?"

"Some sidekick in the Americas, Alaska specifically, he creates a flame-like substance that freezes whatever it touches instead of burning it... two guesses as to why he's a sidekick."

"We're using Japanese, surely there's a difference between the pronunciation."

"He's using Japanese as well, apparently he's a self-admitted weeaboo."

Endeavor's eye twitched as he scratched his chin. "Freezerburn." He said, not as intimidating but it should still-

"Also taken... in just about every language... considering how many languages exist it's kind of impressive."

Endeavor stood up and slammed his hands against the desk. "Ninth Circle!"

"Taken in Japanese, English, and Italian... Two Dante's and a Virgil even, how poetic."

Endeavor roared, reminding Furadari why he invested in fireproofed wallpaper.

 _-Six Hours Later-_

"This is ridiculous!" Endeavor yelled as he paced through the office. "His quirk is literally Half-Cold Half-Hot, how could everything be taken!?"

"... Well, that isn't."

Endeavor sat back down into the chair. "We'll take it."

* * *

 _-INFOMAKE-_

Izuku grins as she pulls down a projector screen in front of Denki, Eijiro, Hanta, Mina, and Yuga. "Hello, today we're studying Quirk Instability Classifications."

"Where did she get all this stuff?" Mina asked as Momo walked in with a tray holding a triple-decker cheeseburger, poutine, and a bottle of soda.

"Roll with it, I don't want to fail our next exam!"

Izuku took out a clicker and pointed it at the projector before clicking the button. The projection showed a list of rankings.

 _Class 1: Generally Unaffected by quirk, aside from dietary preferences. General populace falls under this category._

"People who don't feel any real change between when they had their quirks to the years before it activated, aside from craving certain foods. Like my mom, she's more than happy to go without using her quirk for long periods of time!"

 _Class 2: Likes and Dislikes push a person into situations that make their quirk more obvious._

"Present Mic is openly a Class 2, his loud personality, tendency to yell even when indoors, and other factors make it obvious his quirk has something to do with his voice. In our class Toru is also considered Class 2, as she tends to vocalize her emotions more than others as she can't use body language, and tries to be in the spotlight were it can go through her. Despite this, she still gets embarrassed when she's naked, like anyone else."

 _Class 3: Mild preference to using quirk over normal actions, giving the person the urge to show off their quirk unless there's a reason not to._

"People with Class 3 instability generally seem to lean towards using their quirks unless they're given a good reason not to, such as the fact it breaks the law or that it might hinder them. Mashirao's the best example our class has."

 _Class 4: Quirk use has negative side-effects, but minor due to physical adaptations._

"That's the classification I'm under, overloading my quirk can hurt but it just... doesn't feel all that important." Denki said, getting a nod from Izuku.

 _Class 5: Quirk use has very negative side-effects, forcing a mental adaptation to make it 'worthwhile' to the user as well as physical adaptations to prevent it from killing the user. Mental changes often cause the person affected to find difficulty fitting in with social norms, but can be corrected with personal effort._

"Mineta is Class 5, as a portion of his perversion comes from his instability, making it difficult for him to fit in with society at times. His hair has a texture similar to clothing worn over soft parts of the body, such as stomachs, thighs, breasts, and glutes."

"Wait... that's his excuse?" Mina said, looking a bit perturbed.

"He's been getting better." Momo said from the back after swallowing a bite from her burger.

 _Class 6: Similar to Class 5, but mental changes are much more extreme, requiring professional help to integrate with normal society._

"Katsuki, one hundred yen." Hanta said, but Izuku nodded her head before anyone could bet against his guess. "Wait, really?"

"Katsuki's mentality matches the substance his quirk allows him to secrete through his hands as sweat. Nitroglycerin is one of the worlds most volatile compounds, capable of exploding just by giving it's container a light shake. Because of this he's started looking into professional help to better control his emotions."

 _Class 7: The first 'Dangerous' Classification, if one is under this classification and either has a history of or builds a record of illegal or suspicious activity, they'll be placed on the Watchlist. Quirks that fall under Class 7 cause the one using the quirk to feel a sense of apathy towards those affective negatively as a result of the quirks use. While it doesn't actively encourage harming others, collateral becomes a non-issue._

"Pro-Hero Endeavor is known to have a Class 7 Instability, as well as our own principal, Nezu. Nezu would happily take down an entire cityscape and terrify the people around him just to show off how intelligent he can be, but it doesn't make him want to hurt people. Endeavor on the other hand is known for a blatant willingness to burn down buildings and cause extremely high repair bills chasing down villains trying to escape him." Izuku explained. "It's the lowest classification that can put you on the Watchlist and the only classification capable of doingso that needs you to show a predisposition towards suspicious or illegal activities."

 _Class 8: The first Classification to demand placement onto the Watchlist, regardless of personal history/record. Quirks under Class 8 either enables or encourages self-mutilation, allowing the user to be willing to commit acts that are most likely fatal purely due to faith their quirk will save them._

"I fall under this classification, and at the moment there's only about thirteen other people in Japan with similar classifications." Izuku said as she pulled out a pocket knife and twirled it between her fingers before cutting one off. Her fellow students winced as her finger fell to the ground just for a number of threads to pull it back onto her hand. "To me, my own death isn't something to be afraid of, it's like a nap or washing the dishes. It happens and then I move on."

"... Mon Dieu." Yuga said, realizing they weren't done yet.

 _Class 9: Quirk requires and encourages harm to others._

"Most people under this classification are brought in by the government and put into positions that either limit their possible victim list or are streamlined into underground heroism. It's believed that the Hero Killer, Stain, is likely under this classification, and all surviving villains from the Bloody Mary Incident were discovered to be Class 9."

"... How can it be worse?" Hanta said after a moment, getting a look from Mina. "Mr. Aizawa said there's _ten_ classifications."

Mina turned pale, almost losing her pink shade entirely as she realized what Hanta and Yuga had. Denki started to shiver while Eijiro felt a jolt go up his spine.

"... Like this." Izuku said as she used the clicker again, causing it to move to a new side.

 _Class 10: People discovered to fall under Class 10 are to be executed immediately. Class 10 quirks often have trigger requirements that cause extreme harm or outright death to those around them, or are extremely capable of causing death and reward the user with addictive endorphin highs for doing so._

"Class 10 has only been recorded officially twice, and both were postmortem classifications. Oji Harima and Chikara Yotsubashi. Due to them being postmortem classifications it's unknown if they really were as broken by their quirks as history says, especially considering Chikara Yotsubashi was lucid enough to create an autobiography that supposedly explains his actions." Izuku explained. "But it's believed that another quirk emerging under Class 10 will be opening act to a quirk singularity."

She then grinned and turned off the projector. "Next time, we'll go over why most quirks fall under a hybrid classification than a singular classification, bye-bye!"


	21. Preperations Begin!

The Sports Festival Arc: Preparation Begins, The U.A Sports Festival!

* * *

Inko Midoriya sighed as she looked at the phone in front of her. So far she'd avoided calling her husband, the last time they spoke he'd mentioned he was going to be busy and soon after Izuku found herself in terrifying moment after terrifying moment. She'd rather not worry him when he's dealing with work but he was going to see her soon, he'd see what she can do, he'd see how much she changed, he'd investigate what had happened to her, he'd find out either way.

She needed to be the one to tell him about how their little girl didn't just one day have a quirk.

Inko picked up the phone and started to dial a number she'd only ever hesitated to dial once before. For the second time in her life his cell number made her nervous, made her feel guilty. She brought the phone up to her ear and swallowed as it rang once, twice...

 _"Inko, my parakeet, how are you tonight... or is it daytime for you?"_

"Hisashi, it's nice to hear your voice... I... do you have a moment, somewhere you can sit?"

* * *

"Now!" Momo shouted as she formed a mirror in front of herself and hid behind it.

"Guided Sparkle!" Yuga said as launched his navel laser at Toru, staying behind cover as best he could to prevent being shot. The Laser hit the invisible girl and she closed her eyes concentrating, The laser entered her before shooting out at a different angle. Snipe ducked low and shot three rubber bullets in Toru's direction.

They had been fighting their teachers for a week, this was their final session before the festival. After each attempt, both classes would go over what they did, go over each other's quirks to try and strategies, what worked, what didn't. Every day they came a bit closer to landing a hit...  
They were determined to land at least one.

"Get him!"

Momo held her hands to her stomach and created a pair of stun grenades. As Snipe re-orientated himself she primed and threw them at the gun carrying hero. The resulting flash of light and earsplitting bang further disorientated the hero, letting Mezo get in close with Fumikage on his back, hidden by Mezo's arms and webbing along with a blanket Momo had created earlier.

This kept the light created by the grenades from affecting him too much and put enough shade over him to give him a small power boost.

"Dark Shadow!" Fumikage said as his quirk formed from his chest and lashed out with both hands. Snipe aimed his gun at Fumikage, trying to lock onto him with his quirk when Setsuna came out from behind a rock and split herself into numerous pieces, flying in between Dark Shadow and Snipe. Snipe smirked under his mask, he could barely see as it was, trying to make out which blurs were which.

They couldn't stop his quirk from increasing his accuracy... so they made it a crapshoot as to whether or not he'd lock onto the right thing. "Not bad."  
Dark Shadow's fists came closer, and he grinned behind his mask. "But this old cowboy still has a few aces in hand." He said before bringing a hand down to his belt and unclipping a smoke grenade. It hit the ground and immediately started to expel smoke in every direction.

"We lost him!" Fumikage shouted as Dark Shadow came back to him empty-handed.

"Damn it, Kyoka!" Setsuna said as she pulled herself out of the smoke and put herself back together.

"On it!" She said before stabbing her earjacks into the ground, listening for footsteps. "He's heading in your direction Koji."

The quiet boy gulped and nodded. His quirk wasn't much help here, there weren't many animals nearby save a few pigeons. That meant he had to fight himself and while he was strong... he wasn't used to it. Still, he nodded and got himself ready, looking around for their teacher. He just had to keep him from taking him out or using him to hurt his friends.

He clenched his fists, thinking about the tips Mashirao, Rikido, Nirengeki, and Itsuka. How to use his large frame, how to fight, and how to use his head. He held his breath and clenched his jaw, waiting for a sign of where Snipe was coming from. He was alone for a reason.

"Later ki-"

There are only a few pigeons nearby, and they were already under his control.

"Get him!" Koji yelled as he spun and lunged at Snipe as the pigeons that had escaped into the building flew in through the ventilation and attacked with him. It was a momentary confidence boost to see Snipe falter slightly at the fact Koji was, in fact, a good two inches taller and much wider.

It didn't last and rubber bullets struck his bird friends before Snipe put a boot into his stomach.

Koji tried to catch Snipe's foot but their teacher was faster, pulling back and slamming a roundhouse kick into the back of his right hand. As Koji tried to suck in a breath a laser shot by his shoulder and knocked the teacher's hat off of his head. There was a moment of silence as the hat fell to the ground, revealing their teacher's hair was braided into cornrows on the top of his scalp before they were braided into dreadlocks.

"... Pardon me a moment." Snipe said before planting a boot into Koji's face to knock him onto his back and opening fire in the direction the laser had come from. From the rapid-fire apologies reaching Koji's ears, it seemed Yuga had managed that shot on his own. Koji grit his teeth and picked himself back up before lunging at the hero.

* * *

"Damn it!" Katsuki said as he threw his weight behind a right hook, striking a red punching bag with an open palm. It took them a week just to land a punch on All-Might, a Single Punch, and it wasn't even his fist, it was one of the kids from Class 1-B, Sen Kaibara. The plan had been for him to land a hit with his arm spinning at full speed while All-Might was in the air, with any luck it would dig into his back a bit and cause All-Might himself to start spinning.

That, along with Katsuki firing a blast up at them would have had All-Might spinning on two axes and possibly leaving him open to a few heavier hits while also giving them time to try and go reinforce the others. Instead, All-Might punched the air so hard, he flew _backward_ and slammed back into Sen, who then flew into Katsuki just before the blast could go off.

Izuku said something about the punch being so fast the air in front of him got pressurized, then in the process of expanding back to normal pushed All-Might backward. Katsuki still wasn't sure how the hell that worked and even four hours after they'd been sent back to the dorms Izuku still couldn't explain the math behind it.

The teachers said that they weren't expected to win, just to get smarter with each fight, to get better at using their quirks. In addition, they'd been recorded in the fights, with the recordings sent to the Support classes to give them new ideas on how to help bridge the gap as well as come up with gear that would allow them to keep up during the festival. The goal of the fights was ensuring when it was time for the First Years to put on a show for the Sports Festival, it would be more intense than any other.

But that didn't make him feel any better. All he felt was just how far away from his goal he really was. He wanted to be the greatest hero there ever was and he couldn't even land a single hit on the current number one.

 _It was infuriating!_

"Damn it, Damn it, Damn it!" Katsuki yelled, accenting each pause with another strike against the punching bag. Three years, they had three years to try and match up, to leave U.A. as a hero already on par with them. No-one would be able to question just how amazing he was going to be, no villain would ever be able to take him down, he would be the strongest hero that ever lived!

"Damn it!"

He hit the punching bag and the sweat on his hand exploded, scorching the bag and launching it off of the hook it had been hanging from. Katsuki looked at his hands and growled, nothing was going according to plan. Everything had been going pear-shaped for any plan he made ever since Izuku...

He shook his head and grabbed fistfuls of his own hair, just thinking about it hurt.

After that, he rewrote his plans to include her by his side, keep her safe, for both of them to become heroes. He started planning out how to be a better hero, found out what sort of videos she watched and went over her journals. All-Might was more than just victorious in a fight, he rallied the heroes around him into working harder and was as much of a leader as a fighter.

Still, being nice wasn't easy, it came to Izuku easily but he wasn't as patient as she was or as forgiving. When people did stupid shit it felt right to call them out on it, if nothing else to make them realize they shouldn't do it again. When someone insulted him it felt right to make it clear that doing so was a stupid thing to do, because you never know when someone is actually a villain in civilian clothes.

Having other people around him helped more than he'd like to admit, watching how they corrected each other, the words they used. If there was one thing he'd picked up from Izuku even before he realized how terrible he was being towards the girl, it was how to be observant, how it helped.

Not to mention a few of their friends were hilarious when they lost their patience with a particularly stupid person. Hitoshi is a sarcastic savage and Mei asking people to help her advertise how useful her inventions are because they're so naturally inept at doing something basic is a riot.

But he couldn't really do that, he had a hair-trigger temper and he honestly didn't understand how the hell people kept from snapping other people's necks off. Lately, he'd tried containing it, but goddamn it was hard to keep from knocking idiots upside the head. It wasn't like he was trying to just be mean, he was just trying to put a negative connotation to whatever stupid thing had just happened so they wouldn't want to do it again.

Wasn't his fault people didn't understand if you get hit across the head for attempting to do something that maybe it's not a good idea!

Katsuki clenched his fists, he had a feeling Mr. Aizawa wouldn't take that as an acceptable answer. Hell, he was having trouble justifying it to himself these days. He walked over to the punching bag and picked it up to put it back on its hook. He flashed back to a time when he'd grabbed a still living Izuku by her shirt collar after knocking her down and dropped the bag.

He could still make out the burns, the fresh trails of tears crossing her cheeks, the look of betrayal in her eyes. Katsuki scrambled away from the punching bag and fell, hitting the back of his head on the ground. "Fucking damn it!" He said as he reached up and put his hands over the back of his head. He could hear the door of the gym swing open before footsteps were rushing towards him.

"Hey, you alright Bakubro?"

Katsuki turned towards the voice and his eyes immediately noticed bright red, spiked hair. Eijiro Kirishima, the kid Tetsutetsu had met after the exam and fought beside him at the USJ, was holding his hand out to help him up. "Course I'm alright," Katsuki muttered under his breath as he picked himself up. He wasn't fine, but he hardly wanted to get into details with Shitty Hair. "Just forgot how sweaty my hands get if I don't use my quirk mid-combat."

Katsuki dusted himself off and went over to the punching bag, careful about how he picked it up. "Dude, you knocked it off the hook without your quirk? Talk about manly!"

"Shut up and help me put it back!"

Eijiro snorted and moved over to the other side of the punching bag, helping Katsuki carry it back to the hook. "So, what do you think Mr. Aizawa will surprise us with this time?"

"Probably something stupid..."

* * *

"Student Agencies!?"

"We're going to be working together!?"

"With the other classes!?"

Katsuki wanted to bang his head against the desk, he just had to open his big mouth.

"That's right, you've had time to enhance your skills, now you'll be working with members of the other courses her at U.A. in order to make a big show in the festival," Shota said as he looked at his class. Seeing the looks on their faces he pointed a device at the wall and it slid open to show a large screen. With a click of the device the screen turned on, showing a list of names. "Each of you will be assigned to a team of management, support, and general education students. This gives the students from the other courses a chance to use the publicity of the festival for their own ends rather than just being there to prevent 'favoritism'."

"The Management students get a chance to micromanage a group of people as well as come up with advertisements to better sell you to hero agencies looking for interns, giving them a taste of what it's like. Support students will get the chance to build tech for you to use either as a way to enhance your skills or cover your weak spots, as well as learn how to prioritize tasks as they'll only have until the Sports Festival to create the tech your team will need," Shota explained as the screen showed a picture of All-Might, a man is a business suit, and a man with brown hair and classes in a lab coat. "As for the General Education students, they'll get a chance to help in all three other fields. The Sports Festival acts in U.A.'s interest by catching those in the General Education course who either had an off day or just weren't suited for fighting robots. They'll be able to act as agency heroes alongside you or help the support and management classes to prove they belong in a more specialized course."

A number of other high ranking heroes appeared on the screen, standing next to All-Might.

"I'm going to make this clear, you're not their boss and you're not the leader of the group, you're all rookies. You'll be paired off with a student from Class 1-B and the two of you will be on equal level with the support, management, and general studies students. You'll have to work with them to create a power structure if you even bother with one," Shota finished as he turned off the screen and the wall closed back up. "By now every other homeroom teacher has finished giving their class a similar speech, and Nezu is giving you all time to get to know your teams. After today you'll have to work with them on your own time, any questions?."

"How will we know which room to meet our teams in, sir?"

"There's a note in your desk, it has the room number you're assigned to for the day," Shota said as he zipped a yellow sleeping bag around himself and fell to the floor, asleep almost instantly. Katsuki pulled his head from his desk and ground his teeth, did he really have to work with not just another hero-in-training, but a bunch of idiots from the non-hero courses?

"Oi, Izuku, try not to scare the living daylights out of the people you get partnered with, and keep the blood to a minimum." Katsuki said as he opened his desk and found the paper. Class 1-P, a class closer to the second year building than he'd like. He didn't like being near people who thought they were better than him, even if they had every reason to be.

"So mean..."

"Fuck off Round Face you were thinking the same thing!"

"... True, but you shouldn't say it."

Katsuki rolled his eyes and walked out of the classroom, the quicker he met up with this group of extras, the quicker he could get away from them. Was he really expected to work with a bunch of people who couldn't even fight off a bunch of lame ass robots? Granted, he didn't exactly know anything about the normal entrance exam, but robots, seriously? Izuku might have gotten a little messed up but she'd fought the thing you're supposed to _run away_ from and it wasn't like she took care to avoid getting hurt. "This is fucking stupid..."

He looked up to see Class 1-P in front of him and prepared to knock on the door when it exploded off it's hinges and slammed into his face. "Mthrfk!" He growled against the door as it slammed him into the opposite wall before he put his hands against it and set off his own quirk, launching the door back into the classroom. Screw the rules, screw the whole 'they're the same level as you' shit, _He Was Going To **Murder** Someone!_

"Holy shit!"

"What the fuck!?"

"Awwww, I wanted Izu-chan... Oh well, I guess you'll do."

That last voice was painfully familiar. "Oh fuck all of this." Katsuki said as the smoke died down enough for him to see Mei Hatsume holding what looked like a cartoonishly large barreled rifle. "They put you on _my_ team, do they want to collapse this shitty place?"

Mei just shrugged as the other members of their team peeked out from the edges of the ruined doorway. "I guess if anyone's going to get the attention of the investors, it'll be the loudest person, it's going to be boring making babies with someone I've already practiced with before though."

"Excuse me!?"

Katsuki looked to the side to see a girl with green eyes and long, vine like hair. "B-Babies, out of wedlock, have I been abandoned in a den of sinners."

"Oh fuck you."

"Such foul language!"

"Oh, I'll take her, I can already imagine the sort of babies we'll make together!"

"H-How dare you, not only is that not appropriate it's not possible!"

Mei laughed. "Oh you'd be surprised the sort of babies I can make..."

"Would you fucking call them what they are already!?" Katsuki shouted before turning back to the girl with vines for hair. "She means support gear, she considers her creations 'babies'. I'm Katsuki Bakugo, she's Mei Hatsume, I don't know the rest of these extras, you got a name?"

"... I see... Lord give me patience." The girl said before looking at Katsuki. "I am Ibara Shiozaki of Class 1-B, shall we get started?"

Katsuki had a feeling he was going to need a lot of curry to deal with these two, and he still had the rest of his 'team' to meet... he just hoped the others were having as much trouble as he was.

* * *

"So, you're the little zombie girl from Class 1-A huh, cool, names Setsuna Tokage!" Setsuna said as she held out her hand for a handshake.

"Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you!" Izuku said as she reached out and took Setsuna's hand.

A loud click emanated from Izuku's bracelet as Setsuna pulled her arm back while disconnecting her hand, causing both of their hands to fall to the floor as blood dripped from Izuku's arm. "Oh n- _holy_ _Crap are you okay!?"_

"... Did I mess up?" Izuku said as the other students in the class started screaming, muscle strings pulling her hand back onto her arm.

* * *

Katsuki sat back in a chair as Mei spoke with their general education classmates, finding out more about their quirks and writing down ideas on how to enhance their quirks or at least counter their weaknesses. He looked at his fellow hero classmate from Class 1-B, who seemed to be talking with the management students about how to best sell the group. He wasn't good at dealing with other people and if they had things locked down he was good with hanging back for now, he'd move to take the reigns when it came time to focus on battle tactics.

"Excuse me, you're our team member from class 1-A, right?"

He looked over to his left to see a boy about half his height, an ugly son of a bitch with small eyes and the nose and ear structure of a bat. The boy opened up his mouth to speak and Katsuki noted he also had the jaw structure of a bat. The only human things about his face was the color of his skin and his hair, which he'd tied into a topknot. "My quirks Microbat, makes me good at search and rescue... not the best at combat though..."

"You got a point?" Katsuki said as he looked at the kid, looked to be from the General Education course. If he managed to get into U.A. he couldn't be an idiot, even if it was the easiest course to get in to.

"I want to help, but not as a paper runner, as a hero!"

"Oh?" Katsuki said as he looked at the boy. He didn't look particularly strong, and he was giving him a glare as if challenging Katsuki to say no or something... well if that's how they want to play it. "Can you think fast?"

"Thi-grk!" The boy barely started his next sentence before Katsuki thrust a fist into his gut, making all conversation in the room stop. The boy fell to his knees grabbing his stomach and looked up to level a more open glare at Katsuki, who just popped his neck and looked over his fist. Whatever this was he had to nip it at the bud and while maybe one of the others could have been nicer about it... he's still working on the nice part, and they don't have time to play around. "Th-The hell!?"

Katsuki began to pop his knuckles, one by one. "You said your quirk is Microbat, right, I'm guessing this annoys the _hell_ out of this big ass ears of yours." He said as he continued to pop his joints. The boy winced subtly with each pop, and once he'd popped each knuckle in his hand Katsuki moved on to other joints. "Enhanced hearing, fangs, that nose... search and rescue via echolocation and smell to find injured civilians and villains, right?"

He popped his shoulders, then his elbows. "Bats don't have hollow bones, but they're thinner than comparably sized animals to help keep their weight down while not giving up too much skeletal strength. They also have a damn quick muscle system, especially around their larynx." He said as he popped the knuckles of his toes in his shoes. "But against robots, fast muscles and thin bones aren't helpful, neither is echolocation... this is your one shot at being in the hero course."

Katsuki held his left hand up and let off a small crackles, no louder than firework poppers. "I don't see much sweat on you, or smell it for that matter. I'm no bloodhound but I know the smell of it damn well given how often I push myself in the gym." He said as he glared down at the bat-like boy. "Yet you want to fight along side us when we've been training our bodies since before we even applied for U.A."

"So if you want to put on a good show and get in... we're going to have to get you started..." Katsuki said, getting a confused look from the boy. "Yeah... Hey, Thorny Nun, you up for training these losers into something half-decent in time for the festival?"

Ibara glared at the explosive blond and his nickname for her before straightening her shoulders. "I see no issues with that plan of action."

"You hear that, you losers are about to get tutored into badasses!" Katsuki said as a grin stretched across his face. The boy found himself gulping at the look on Katsuki's face. "Better hope you're ready."

The boy bit back his fear and nodded, getting a chuckle from Katsuki as he started to go over a few tactics they could use in his head.

* * *

"You punched him!?"

"Oh please, I tell you to keep the blood to a minimum and you cut off _your own_ _hand!_ " Katsuki said as he laid on top of Izuku while she did pushups, a bottle of water in his hand. He cracked the cap and opened the bottle, taking a drink as Izuku continued to do pushups underneath him. Normally that wouldn't mean much but he was wearing a weighted vest, arm weights, and ankle weights as he rehydrated, putting a decent amount of weight on her as she forced herself to failure. Once she was done he'd practice using his quirk to fly and maneuver with the extra weight.

If he could fly with the extra weight, then he'd move on to carrying around a dummy to make sure he could use airborne escape routes without burning whoever he was evacuating. If he could get that down, he'd smooth the flight out with one of his classmates and their input.

"It was supposed to be funny, and the other hero student did it too!"

"They _what!?_ "

Hitoshi groaned from the other bar, where he was doing pull-ups. "Damn it, she got Setsuna… Her quirk is Lizard Tail Splitter, it lets her cut herself to pieces and telekinetically control every piece, as well as put herself back together or just regrow parts of her body if she loses something." He said as he pulled himself up to the bar and pressed his chest against it. He then lowered himself down slowly and continued. "She's a recommendation student like us, but came in through the normal testing process. She's got a head for tactics and isn't afraid to play dirty."

"She also has green hair." Tetsutetsu said as he and Eijiro sat across from each other, both of them holding dumbbells and punching each other's fists with their quirks active. Katsuki stiffened and turned to look at the metallic boy as his eye started to twitch. Green hair, quirk involves breaking into pieces and growing them back... Katsuki groaned and looked at Hitoshi.

"Did they fucking put Izuku with someone whose quirk naturally does everything that Izuku forces her body to do, and just so happens to share a resemblance with her?"

Hitoshi stopped mid push-up at Katsuki's comment, just in time for Ochaco to float over his head while covering her mouth. "I mean... if Izuku was flirty, taller, had sharp teeth... Oh god they paired her up with an older sister figure."

The grip Momo had on her burger tightened at Hitoshi's words, causing a tomato slice to shoot out and slap Tenya on the cheek. Tenya, who was running on the treadmill, managed to keep himself from being thrown off and kept running as he peeled the tomato from his face. "That was rather intelligent of them, by having us work with people we can get along with on a personal level, our classes will be able to grow more effectively together!" Tenya said as he tossed the piece of tomato into the nearby trashcan. "As expected of our-"

"Izuku's hanging out with someone who regularly cuts her own limbs off by _thinking it_."

That sent Tenya to the wall as he froze up and launched him to the opposite wall, looking like the silhouette on an emergency exit sign. "... I realize now how that would be a problem." He said before he pulled himself from the wall and dusted himself off. Momo sighed and went back to her burger, a number of small objects of different sizes and materials forming from her body. "But I'm certain our teachers have thought of this as well!"

Izuku fell to the ground, mumbling into the floor as she tried to get in one last pushup but found her arms and chest unwilling to hold up her weight. Katsuki rolled off her back and helped her up. "I'm not that bad..."

"Your original costume idea had a cleaver... a _cleaver_." Hitoshi said as he dropped from the pull up bar. Izuku pouted a bit before she went over to a low bar, trapping her feet under it before lowering herself to the ground for sit-ups. Katsuki shook his head at the greenette's actions as he checked his weights. Once he was sure they were ready he waved at the group. "Huh, where are you going?"

"Flying practice Mind games."

"Oh ho, cause I haven't heard that one before, Cherry Bomb."

"Fuck you!"

Hitoshi exhaled through his nose and walked over to the dumbbells, picking a set for himself before doing curls. "So... we're all going to be facing each other, I don't think any of us got grouped up." Hitoshi said as he started working on his sets. "Speaking of that, I got partnered with a Rikido, any pointers?"

"He needs sugar to use his quirk, but he'll get tired the longer he uses it." Momo said between bites of her burger. She swallowed and created a small pouch in her hand. "I'd recommend limiting his sugar intake, while making sure anyone you bring along with you as sidekicks keeps some sugar on them in the event he runs out of his own but needs the extra power."

"Got it, who'd you get?"

"Kendo Itsuka."

"Her quirk makes her capable of expanding her hands, the process can add a lot of force to her punches and boosts her hands physical strength. You might turn her gay if you can make knuckledusters that can grow with her hands." Hitoshi said as he switched arms, smirking a bit as Momo coughed into the next bite of her burger. He didn't know why it felt good to make comments like that, but it got the others to laugh and the glare he got from Momo was half-hearted at best so he rolled with it. "In all seriousness, she's a frontline fighter with a head to tactics and our Class representative so you got lucky, if you got her though... who'd you get Tenya?"

"I've been placed one with Pony Tsunotori, she was quite eager to prove herself… though we had some difficulty communicating."

"Oh, she's one of our transfers from America, do you know English?" Tetsutetsu said as he slammed his fist against Eijiro's, the clang was noticibly quieter than before and Tetsutetsu noticed how fatigued his arms felt. He put down the weights in his hand as Tenya put his index finger and thumb to his chin.

"I might be passable thanks to a few visits my family's made to America for support deals. I'll try it next time we meet, thank you Tetsutetsu."

Izuku finished out her sit-ups as Tetsutetsu explained he'd been placed with an invisible girl, which meant he was with Toru, and decided to head outside. She could barely believe everything that had been happening so far. She was in UA, she got to fight actual villains, she had a quirk... She had friends, friends who she was training alongside for The Sports Festival itself, the biggest public hero event in Japan aside from The Ranking Announcements!

She squealed into her hands as she spun in place, she couldn't believe how well everything worked out in the end, if only she'd jumped sooner. "Hahaha, it's good to see a fellow trainee is such good spirits!"

Izuku blinked and looked up to see Mirio's head poking out of a wall. "Want to hang out?" The blond hero-in-training asked. "You can bring your friends, there's a sparring room not too far from here!"

* * *

"Are you sure?" Sorahiko said as he stood with Toshinori and Sir Nighteye, watching over Mirio as he interacted with Izuku and her friends. The three of them had been seeing each other a lot more often recently. It was tiring having to get up on a regular schedule again... but it felt right, like a bunch of instincts he'd been ignoring were finally being listened to. "Just an Hour?"

Toshinori nodded. "That fight took a lot out of me, and I was already out of time as it was. I pushed myself and aggravated my wound as a result, now I'm paying for it." Toshinori said as he turned to Sorahiko. It was good to see his mentor up and about, his help training the students for what was likely to come would be invaluable. "If One for All was still mine, then I'd probably get that time back with some rest, but with no fuel to burn it's only going to go downhill."

Sorahiko nodded, while he'd been rather angry Toshinori proceeded to ignore his demand and found a successor himself... he could have done a lot worse than Mirio, the boy was good in ways that reminded him of Nana. He'd given the blond idiot a piece of his mind, but had deemed the boy acceptable in the end. "Now we just need to find out where All for One is hiding, as well as ensure he won't get to Mirio before we're ready." He said as he put a hand on his chin. "Much as I hate to say it, you won't be able to live up to Nana's example in this scenario, if All For One is still around and he finds him, there's no way you'll be strong enough to hold him off while the boy escapes."

Sir Nighteye nodded while Toshinori clenched his fists. "That's something we've already designed a plan for." Sir Nighteye said as he watched Mirio lead the students into a sparring room. They'd already been shown hw much further they had to go before they were ready to be pros, so Mirio's power would likely light another fire under their asses. They didn't have time to sit back and relax, not if All For One was alive and recreating the Nomu project. "Mirio and I have been looking for possible successors already, people in his age group that would fit in the event we need to transfer One For All away from him due to serious injury."

Toshinori choked on his own spit, as well as a bit of blood. Once his airway was cleared out he looked at his former sidekick. "You can't be serious, even if you found someone All For One would see the transfer, it's hardly subtle handing off your hair to someone." He said, smiling a bit at the reminder of how Mirio reacted to the process. He wondered if that's how Nana had felt when she gave him the strand of her hair.

"The delivery system is still being worked on, but we'll likely have an answer before Mirio's next internship with me. If not, we'll ask that he does errand work, keep him out of the spotlight." Sir Nighteye explained. At the moment they were looking into using samples of Mirio's DNA in darts, as well as possibly giving certain exceptional individuals samples of Mirio's DNA in small hard candies to eat in the event of an emergency. They weren't sure how long the samples would contain the capacity to transfer the power however, and there wasn't exactly a way to test it. Thankfully, Mirio understood how important it was to have these contingencies. "For now, we should focus on who we'd want to have One for All, who do we trust that kind of power with?"

"Toshinori might have reservations against it, but from what we've seen of that girl, Izuku might be worth considering." Sorahiko said. This drew looks from his two conversation partners, one curious while the other was horrified. Sorahiko held up his hand, closed into a fist, when Toshinori went to argue. Toshinori's mouth snapped shut and he shivered. "Before you said that aside from your fear of implying that she couldn't be a hero with her current power, she was perfect. Now we're not implying that, but instead implying she's capable of becoming an amazing hero on her own, one who could be trusted to keep the world safe in the event you and Mirio are defeated. On top of that, her quirk along with the power of One for All would be a sight to behold."

Sir Nighteye closed his eyes, then nodded. "He has a point, Toshinori. She makes a good Plan B."

"I'd rather avoid causing her more pain, the burden of One for All is great and she's been burdened enough by life as it is."

"She's planning to be a hero kid, there's no greater burden than that. Besides, you always talking about One for All as a great honor, what's different about her?"

Toshinori shook his head. "Make no mistake, it's as much an honor as a burden, one Mirio will learn to live with quickly, but he already chose a heavy burden for himself with his Hero Name." He said. "One he's already proven he can live up to. As much as it hurts to admit it, we don't know if she can handle that kind of pressure."

Sorahiko took a deep breath through his nose while Sir Nighteye watched Toshinori's face carefully. "First she seems perfect, now she's missing something... you said something similar about Mirio when you decided on him." He said as he watched confusion form on Toshinori's face. "When it was Mirio, you were worried that he didn't have the strength to wield One for All and began training him, but even then it took a while after he got it to build up the strength needed to use it safely."

"What are you implying?" Sorahiko said as he looked at Sir Nighteye, who looked as if he was trying to put a puzzle together.

"Not sure yet... we'll shelf her for now, who else do we think would make a good option?" Sir Nighteye said, making sure to keep that information in mind for later. "Surely there's others."

Toshinori shook his head. "None that I've noticed, while they're all likely to be good heroes... they just don't feel right, unlike these two." He said, something about them made the image he used for One for All, an inner flame, lean towards them as if blown by the wind. They were the perfect candidates, they just needed to be a bit stronger, both physically and mentally. Mirio was the closest of the two, but there was still the occasional twitch in Izuku's direction. "Those two... I can feel it in my gut."

"Your non-existent one?"

Toshinori gave Sorahiko a look. "You know what I mean, sensei."

The small, retired hero shrugged. "Anyway, we'll need to find more possible successors if we're going to use Sir Nighteye's plan. That means either you drop standards or we offer you to other schools." Sorahiko explained as he rummaged through his lunch bag, finding some still warm taiyaki. He took a bite and chewed for a bit to let the two think about it before swallowing. "We could play it off as randomizing your location, since apparently people will stop at nothing to try and get to you now. All for One certainly won't expect you to choose someone not from the same school you graduated and there's more than a few people who just didn't make the cut on recommendations who went elsewhere, they might be what you need."

"If I remember right, there was one student who denied U.A.'s recommendation acceptation and went to Shiketsu. His quirk is rather powerful, ad he seems genuine enough."

Toshinori gave a nod. "I'll ask Nezu if he thinks he can set it up, we've had students come from other schools to train with our Hero Course before, maybe we could return the favor with me as their chaperone."

"Good idea... I'm going to check on Mirio, ensure he's not going too hard on them."

"I'll go with you" Sorahiko said as he popped a few joints in his back. He let out a sigh and walked up to Sir Nighteye, cane in hand. "Might be a good idea to see what sort of boy I might be training alongside you."

The two made their way down the hall as Toshinori went to visit Nezu in his office. Once they turned a corner Sorahiko snorted. "So, do we have a real talk now?" He said. Sir Nighteye looked at the older man, who rolled his eyes. "Don't play dumb with me, I trained your mentor, I know what actual dumb looks like."

Sir Nighteye coughed into his hand, holding back a laugh at the small jab. Once he composed himself he started walking again, keeping his eyes forward. "Recently there's been a change in Mirio, a change I've noticed in Toshinori as well. At the moment it's rather subtle, but it's there." He explained as they walked. They were heading towards a viewing room that would allow them to see into the sparring room Mirio had chosen without alerting him to their presence. "I'm sure you've noticed it as well."

"Why don't you go first, sometimes an old man like me gets lost in the reminiscing and mixes facts ups." Sorahiko said, fishing out another taiyaki from his lunch bag and taking a bite out of it.

Sir Nighteye gave him a nod as he opened the door for him. "For one, Mirio has always focused his training on his quirk, mastering it, then he worked on physical training to ensure that he was capable even in the event his quirk wasn't useful." Sir Nighteye said as the two walked into the viewing room, closing the door behind him. "Lately however, Mirio has been far more interesting in physical training, putting his quirk training to the side unless it involves One for All. In addition, Toshinori demanded a certain level of strength from Mirio before the transfer, but despite knowing the sort of power needed to withstand the amount of recoil that much power has..."

"Toshinori gave him the power when he couldn't use it's full strength without causing injury, forcing Mirio to train with One for All in his body, strengthening the quirk as much as he strengthened himself." Sorahiko said. "You think there's a form of instability connected to One for All, one that Toshinori had and still has, one that Mirio is starting to have now that One for All is a part of his quirk."

"You've seen it too then?"

"Didn't want to, but it's hard to miss." Sorahiko said as they watched the fight in front of them. Mirio was dominating the fight, using his Permeation to avoid attacks and put himself in a position to use his opponents as shields or weapons. It was brutal, but efficient. "When Toshinori was carrying One for All, he was excited to train, as a test to see his limits I started to become more aggressive, started attacking him like he was a villain rather than a student... he just got more excited and trained even harder. Lately though he's afraid of me and looks back at those memories with fear, even before he passed the quirk on. If anything it started the moment he began looking for a successor."

"Now a lingering part of him feels this Izuku is a worthy successor, and Mirio's been keeping an eye on her as well." Sir Nighteye said. The first part of what they noticed made sense, One for All was a stockpiling quirk and, as a result, it's users would want to train and stockpile as much power as they could. What didn't make sense to him was why Mirio and Toshinori were still looking at Izuku like she was important to the continued existence of the quirk. He normally avoided looking too deep into the futures of his allies, especially after he did it with Toshinori and the man ignored his warnings, but something told him he'd need to take a good look at Mirio's future, as well as Izuku's. "I don't suppose you could take her as an intern after the festival."

"Hell no, at my age, damn girl has a record of dismembering herself for kicks, I'll have a heart attack."

Sir Nighteye sighed before jumping back from the glass they were watching the fight from as Izuku slammed into it. Mirio had decided to throw her into what he must of thought was a wall with One for All active, causing her to smash against the wall with enough force to break skin and bone, splattering blood around her.

"That was supposed to be a joke!" Sorahiko said as he dropped to the ground, grabbing his chest with his right hand as his left arm tensed. Sir Nighteye watched as Izuku's flesh stitched itself back together where it had broken, bones taking their normal shape underneath until she looked at she did before the throw, save a few extra stitch marks. "Sweet heavens that's terrifying to watch..."

Sir Nighteye looked into the girls eyes, despite her being unable to see him. There was a light in the girls eyes, an excitement he'd seen in Toshinori's eyes back when he was the mans sidekick. He only saw it in the mans eyes when a villain promised to be a challenge, something that would give him a workout and push him to be even a little bit stronger. He remembered times were Toshinori would ignore plans to rush into the fight instead, sprinting to a powerful villain and taking him on directly rather than through intelligent strategies for that extra challenge and, with it, physical exercise.

"... You saw it too, didn't you?" Sorahiko said, getting a nod from the green haired man as he fixed his glasses. "That need to get stronger, she has it just like he did."

"We should keep a closer eye on her, Mirio will accept that request easily enough." He said as he watched the girl throw herself back at Mirio, flying through his stomach. This time as she went through him she arced her leg back, surprising Mirio and making contact with the tip of his nose before he activated Permeation on his head before she could do any real damage. Mirio was grinning as he turned towards her, catching Tenya by the arm as the first year student rushed him. The boy struggled for a second before finding himself being thrown at Momo, who was trying to form what looked like a cannon. "Though whether or not that's a good thing remains to be seen."

* * *

Himiko walked into the makeshift arena that she'd been brought to. Her costume had been updated to facilitate her quirk's use in combat, now featuring a mask over the lower half of her face. A set of tubes connected to the collection system allowed her to drink blood as she collected it or keep it for later use, allowing her to transform mid-combat into various people. This was due to a discovery of the Doctors, during her recovery. He'd allowed her to drink a bit of the blood she'd collected from Izuku, using it as a bribe to get her to stay still as he put her back together... only for the blood to do exactly that.

As it turned out, her quirk did more than copy people's appearance, it allowed her to copy their quirks, albeit only for as long as she kept their form. Switching from form to form could be slow at times but the ability to use the quirks of those who oppose the League, in the hands of someone designed for infiltration... it was too big an advantage to let go to waste.

So, they started training her, helping her master her quirk, promising it would make her capable of getting to Izuku, _Keeping Izuku_.

She'd go along with it, they still trusted her. they couldn't blame her for failing, Izuku had more power than she'd realized, they all had more power than they'd realized, even All-Might. She also played it off tht having to fight in a stuffy place like the Fire Zone while covered in her quirk was difficult... it had worked, thankfully. Now she just needed to get stronger, more flexible with her quirk. A mass of black flesh, covered in writhing muscles as it stalked forward in four limbs, each tipped large spikes instead of feet.

 _"Engage."_

Blood flooded into her mouth and she drank it, waves of excitement flooding through her system at the coppery taste. Her quirk activated and gray sludge exploded from her pores, wrapping around her and lifting her off of her feet. Her field of vision expanded, she was able to see both of her own shoulders at the same time and the world seemed just a bit flatter than she was used to, she had a metallic beak but could feel rows of teeth in her jaw, and she was _huge_. She rushed forward and slammed a pitch black fist into the Nomu in front of her and her syringe, hidden within her transformation, burst forth and pierced the creatures flesh. It howled and fought back but the various quirks in the blood she had drank kept her in one piece as she drained the creature dry.

The creature make a pitiful noise and she lifted it into the air, ripping it in half and letting what little blood was left in it spill onto her new face. She licked her beak with a coarse tongue. Another group of Nomu were released into the arena, mindless screeches filling the air as they rushed her. She lashed out, a single fist more than enough to send the new opponents flying into the arena's walls, syringes piercing through her transformation and drawing blood into her collection pack. She tugged on the tubes and pulled the syringes out of the Nomu, devices strapped to her arms reeling them back into the gray sludge that made up her transformation and back onto the harnesses around her arms. The other Nomu stopped moving and she stood calm, waiting for whatever would come next.

 _"Attempt to Replace the Anti-Symbol of Peace is a Success. Prepare for Warp."_

She released the transformation, the sludge disappearing as it hit the ground. Black mist enveloped her as she was pulled back into the bar, where Tomura and Kurogiri were waiting for her. Tomura scratched as his wrists with a set of specialized gloves on. Each glove was made of two separate parts, one part covered his thumb, index, and middle fingers while the other covered his ring finger and pinky. Once on they held each other place via Velcro straps around the wrist, allowing the young man to close his fist without putting all five fingers on a single object. "It worked then... you became Nomu?" He said, scratching at himself in excitement. "All we need to do now is get it out of prison, or get someone in there who can order blood tests and ship us the blood..."

Himiko grinned and swayed a bit before taking a seat at the bar, where Kurogiri gave her a cup filled with some sort of brown liquid. "Huh, this isn't my usual..."

"Sensei's orders." Tomura said as he reached towards the counter and picked up his own cup, swirling the liquid inside. "Once a week while training."

Himiko pouted, but drank. She'd ask Kurogiri to make her a Zombie later. Maybe she could get him to use the green absinthe instead of rum to get the color right... no, he disliked breaking recipes like that. Maybe if she asked for the right kind of juice, that was more likely...

* * *

In Italy, a man sat down in a large, cushioned chair in his hotel room. His skin was the coarse, gray color of ashes and contrasted with the glowing emerald eyes. His hair was as black as smoke, combed and gelled back against his head and stopping just over his neck and behind his ears. His white, long sleeved button down shirt was messy, his tie on the nightstand next to the chair, his pants as dark as his hair, a red sash around his waist. His facial hair was trimmed to a five o'clock shadow over his upper lip, jaw line, chin, with a slightly longer tuff of hair under his lower lip.

On his lap was his phone, his back arched so his head was leaning over the phone. He could barely believe what he'd heard, what had happened while he was away. The moon shined into his room as clouds parted in the night sky, accenting sharp facial features. He took a deep breath before picking up his phone and dialing a number he tried to avoid calling. He sighed as he dialed the last parts of the number, small tusks peeking out from his lips as a wisp of smoke left his mouth with his breath. _"Hisashi, rare for you to call"_

"I'm going to need some time off, sir."

 _"I understand, just to help move the paperwork along, why?"_

"Call it a family emergency." He said as he looked out the window of his hotel room, the glow in his eyes growing brighter.

* * *

 ** _OMAKE: Katsuki learns he has a Theme Song._**

"Hey Mind Games, what's this?" Katsuki said as he looked through Hitoshi's CD collection, finding an album with a sea green color palate and what looked like a skeleton. "Alestorm?"

Hitoshi looked up from his computer and then turned his head towards Katsuki. "That thing? A few years back a band started recreating songs from the Pre-Quirk era, tried to sell the albums as their own music." He said before waving his hand in a circle. "When they got caught, their albums became stupid cheap, so I bought a few, unfortunately they're not really my style, go ahead and take 'em."

Katsuki raised an eyebrow and turned the CD case over, looking at the list of songs before finding one in particular. "... This should be good."

 _Later_

" _Fuck, You, You're a fucking Wanker, We're gonna punch you right in the balls!"_

Izuku watched in horror as Katsuki, stereo in hand, burst into Class 1-B while singing along to the song he'd found. Next to her, Ochaco couldn't help but try to contain her laughter behind her hands while Momo rubbed her temples. Tenya reached over and put a hand on Momo's shoulder, deciding there wasn't really any way to defuse the situation Katsuki had decided to cause this time.

 _"Fuck, You, With a Fucking Anchor, You're all Cunts so Fuck You All!"_

In the classroom itself, Hitoshi held his head in his hands and tried not to give himself away by busting into laughter, the looks on the faces of his classmates was _Priceless_.

Unfortunately, he lost all pretense of self-control when Pony's horns fell off of her head.


End file.
